Crowned Heir
by Barrett M107
Summary: Treasure - It could be vast amounts of gold, silver, gems, jewels - Maybe an ancient trinket or a cursed object. Usually the pay off comes with actually finding the treasure, but things work a bit differently at Crowned Heir. Rival Guilds, Trap, Monsters - Nothing will stop them from claiming what is rightfully theirs. No longer Accepting Ocs.
1. Introduction

_Here at Crowned Heir, we're always on the lookout for up-and-coming treasure hunters to bring in to the fold. While we primarily are on lookout for rare finds and of course, treasure, we take all kinds of jobs – Repossession, Finding rare items for clients, Protection detail, and etcetera. _

_As long as the price is right and the money is good, then we'll do it. _

_You don't get the money upfront – Don't expect the usual jobs you might find at a Mage Guild like Sabertooth or Fairy Tail. We pay you – We usually assign commissions and that'll earn you a nice bonus. We have rooms for rent at a cheaper price than you might find in town – Cheaper price. You still have to pay – but the food is free._

_Property destruction and various other expenses you charge to the guild because you can't handle them are taken out of your pay._

_The real money is in the treasure. Every Guild member of the discovery team gets a cut of the profits that come out of it. If it's an item or items that can't or won't be divvied up amongst them, then you get a bonus in your pay._

_Sounds good, no?_

_So come and join!_

* * *

To most, it appeared to be a simple cave in the side of a mountain. Surrounded by trees, some brush, with wildlife casually hanging out around the entrance, most would think that. Only a select few ever saw the steel doors that would close it off to the outside world. Anyone who would dare venture in to the dark recesses would run screaming bloody murder, white as a ghost.

All defenses against both intruders and curious travelers.

The Guild Hall of Crowned Heir was quite nice if one knew how to avoid the traps. The red carpet embroidered with gold extending from near the entrance to the inside led to quite the spacious inside. It opened up to a large, dome-like room illuminated by the artificial light created by the mass of crystals hanging from the ceiling. White marble pillars were evenly placed around the room, with doors in between them.

It was hub for the Guild Members to meet, a large version of their Guild symbol carved in to the rock floor and colored white to contrast against the dark background.

Several doors around this hub led to several rooms – Rooms made for the Guild members, Vaults, a library, and much more each with elegantly decorated interiors. Through the center most door of the hub was the Guild Master's chamber: a large circular room, much the center of the Guild but on a smaller scale. The walls were lined with gold, jewels and gems all around the room, steadily growing larger until it reached its peak behind the guild master's throne.

On his head he wore a crown, tilted to the side slightly.

His lips stretched in to a smirk, pulling back to reveal his gleaming, sharp teeth. His eyes scanned over the papers in his hand to make sure everything was in order.

"Let the games begin," He stated.

* * *

**I guess I can't stay away. I thought I was done with the 'SYOC' kind of stuff, but I guess not. And I'm pretty happy about that.**

**Long story short, the form is on my profile along with the rules and available spots. It's not a first come first serve kind of deal, so feel free to take your time.  
**

**I decided to go with a Treasure Hunter Guild because I feel like that hasn't been done too much. I wanted to see what I could do with, and what people would do for OCs. This guild isn't about fun and adventure - It's about money and discovering the treasures of the world. Let that sink in and will be eagerly awaiting the guild hopefuls.**

**See ya.**


	2. The Hunters

**Hey guys! This is the official first chapter and I'm excited! I rather like this one.**

**Concerning OCs - I am still accepting them currently for those of you who haven't submitted but want to. I still need 4 Collectors and 2 Repossessers – And Females. I only got two out of the first batch. And to people who sent them in but I haven't said anything, I'm stilling considering characters.**

**The Hunter Team…**

Daniel Schultz – **Hell Devil 13**

Finn Arland – **NewMusic098 **

Andrea Agnelli – **xoxo-vanilla**

Ada Fahrmann – **visceraEffect**

**Yeah, no more Hunter spots, sorry. I do hope to see some great OCs for the rest though. **

**Enjoy.**

* * *

"Fuckin' hell… If that bastard sent us on some wild goose chase, he's dead!"

"Ah, don't be like that! I'm sure it'll pay off…"

"Tch, sound a little more confident next time – Agh! He's dead! That jittery bastard is dead!"

"Awww, don't be like that! This is the Master's contact! He never lets us down!"

"Yeah, newbie! Give it some time, you'll see! This stuff usually pays off!"

Daniel Schultz, more commonly known as Danny amongst the members of his Guild, was the unofficial leader of their band of treasure hunters. At 19, he stood taller than his three teammates at a little over six feet. Leading them now with a map in hand, he did so with a smile on his face and a cigarette between his lips. On his back, his sword, Dröhnen, was sheathed.

Finn Arland, at 18 years old, the so-called 'newbie' was the newest member of Crowned Heir amongst the rest. His signature bow hung from shoulder. He reluctantly followed Danny with a sneer on his face and his fingers interlaced behind his head of spiky brown hair.

Ada Fahrmann, the oldest of the group at 24 years of age, but she certainly didn't look it. At 5'6" with her slim build and wide eyes, she appeared rather youthful. Her bright orange eyes were wide and full of wonder as she turned this way and that while walking to take in the jungle area around her. Her black hair was pulled back in to a loose bun, a few stray hairs falling from it and held in place by a metal pen decorated with a white fox. Her weapon of choice, Ouei, an enchanted spear almost as tall as Danny, holstered on her back.

Andrea Agnelli, the youngest of them at 17. She trailed behind a little, focusing a bit more on the ground beneath her feet. She had her hands stuffed in to the pockets of her jacket. She briefly took them out and cuffed them in front of her mouth, blowing a breath of icy mist in to them. She rubbed them together before returning them to her pockets. This humid climate wasn't doing her any favors. She zipped up her jacket in order to stay a bit cooler.

"We've been walking for hours…" Finn stated, "All part of the plan, eh, genius?"

"_Verdammt noch mal…" _He muttered under his breath, "Yeah!" He said, peering over his shoulder with a reassuring smile, "We're on the right track, it should only be a few more minutes."

Finn smirked, "I bet I could've gotten us there hours ago… A skilled hunter like me, I probably wouldn't have needed that map! Gimme a general direction and it's straight there!" He exclaimed. Danny stopped abruptly, causing both Ada and Finn to bump in to him, "Oy! Why'd you stop?"

"You lead us then, Finny," Danny said turning on the young man, a smirk on his face, "No map – And that's the general direction," He pointed over his shoulder, "Get to it."

Finn huffed and shouldered past him, "This'll be easy... And don't call me 'Finny', ya bastard!"

* * *

"There anything you want to say, Finn?"

Hours later, with the sun setting, lighting up the sky a myriad of oranges, reds and pinks, they had finally found the cave they had been searching for all this time. The correct landmarks were around them – a snake-looking carving in to the side of the mountain, the claw shaped tree with a broken thumb, and it was all there.

They had found – after letting Danny lead them once again.

Finn walked right up to the blond haired young man and without hesitation jumped up and brought his fist down on top of his head.

"Shuddup…" Finn grumbled, rubbing his reddening knuckles. Danny chuckled sheepishly, his right eyebrow twitching, a large, smoking bump on the top of his head. After that excitement, they decided to rest for a little while and take a break. Gathering a bit of fire wood, Danny snapped his fingers an electric spark ignited the wood. He, Finn and Ada sat around the fire while Andrea took a seat nearby in the shade of a small tree.

A small white light shone through the fabric of his jeans and Danny pulled out a Call Card: a call from their Guild Master. He charged a small amount of magic energy in to it.

"_Yo, How goes the hunt?" _There Guild Master's voice came through clearly from the other side.

"Great, actually, we're outside the cave now and should have it before the sun sets," Danny replied.

"_Good, get it and come back ASAP," _He told them, _"I have an announcement and I'd like for the whole guild to be present. Don't be late," _And without waiting for a reply, he ended the call. Danny pocketed the Call Card. They spent a few minutes eating some snacks and drinking – Danny and Ada were the ones to talk, Finn joined in, regaling them with a story of his days hunting grand beasts before joining and while Ada was absolutely enthralled, Danny challenged the logic of his retelling. Finn insisted that everything he said was the truth, but Danny wasn't having it.

Once things had settled down, Danny stood up and stretched, "Let's get going – We're getting that treasure before the sun sets."

"Right!~" Ada cheered, jumping to her feet and pumping her fists in to the air. Andrea joined them, stuffing her hands in to the pockets of her jacket.

Finn slowly got on to his feet, yawning. Without wasting a second, he unzipped his fly…

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Danny shouted, waving one hand while he used the other to cover his eyes. Ada and Andrea turned their heads away, Ada with an 'eep' and they both flushed deep shades of red. Finn just regarded them all with a strange look, "What the hell are you doing?!" Danny shouted.

"About to take a leak… Put out the fire…? Somethin' wrong with that?" Finn asked.

"Wait until we leave!" Danny replied, chuckling a bit, "Hell man, there are girls here!" He said, blindly gesturing to Ada and Andrea.

Finn tilted his head, "So? I didn't pull it out yet, my fly is just down…"

"Piss in the forest! Or wait until we leave like I said!" Danny shouted in reply. Finn rolled his eyes and groaned.

"Fine!" He made sure they heard the zipping up of his fly, "Happy?"

"Yes actually," Danny replied, taking his hand away hesitantly. He and the girls started for the entrance of the cave and Finn shook his head.

"Bunch'a prudes… I swear," Nature was calling and without further interruption, he answered.

* * *

"Geez…" Danny sighed, shaking his head. A light smirk pulled at his lips and he started to chuckle, "Are you two all right? You've been kind of quiet," He peered over his shoulder back at Andrea and Ada, and they looked well enough.

"Wasn't expecting him to do that…" Andrea murmured, looking around the cave.

"Me either," Ada added, "What do you think we'll find? I really hope they're a bunch of neat treasures down there! Ooh – Maybe there's a tiara or a neat crown!" She gasped, stars in her eyes in the thought of it.

Danny chuckled, "There's bound to be something. Gilver just wants what is in the tomb – Maybe he'll let you keep something," He really doubted there was a tiara in an ancient tomb meant to safeguard a so-called 'King's' treasures, but he wasn't going to just stomp on her hopes like that. It be less painful for them to be crushed when she doesn't find it.

"Hold on…" Andrea demanded with a bit more force. Both Ada and Danny looked back to watch her sniff at the air. She started forward and walked past them, "There… are more people in the cave… I smell them – Sweat… Urine…" She cringed saying that. She jerked head forward, motioning deeper in to the cave, "Come on."

They nodded and followed after her. They moved swiftly enough to make good time heading deeper in to the cave and silently so that they had less chance of alerting whoever might be there. Ada and Danny stuck to one side of the cave while Andrea took the other side.

Danny looked up, "Lacrima…" Several orbs were spaced out on both walls, lighting the way with artificial light.

"Think they might still be here?" Ada asked.

"We'll find out…" Danny replied. He glanced toward ground for a split second and shot his arm out, "Hold on!" He hissed, trying to keep his voice down. He motioned for Andrea to step back and he tore one of the lacrima out of their place in the wall and used it to shine light on a thin stretching from wall to the other, "Wire trap," He said, using the lacrima as a search light to inspect both sides of the tunnel.

"Do you see anything?" Ada asked him.

"No… Be careful not to trigger it," He gingerly stepped over it and made sure the girls could still see it as well. Andrea took the lead again, now that they were clear and they kept going. They reached a drop that was a few feet down – Danny was the first, jumping down and landing safely, then came Andrea and then Ada.

"I saw holes on the edge of the drop, so we can assume they rappelled down – Whatever they're here for, they're professionals," Danny stated, using the lacrima to search for any traps set for them.

Now faced with two branching, "Poison?" She murmured. They started down the tunnel she caught whiff of the poison from. Moving slowly, Danny finally stopped them. Needles littered the walls on both sides, on the ceiling and floor. Upon closer inspection, with the use of the lacrima, holes barely visible even in the light were in the stone.

"This is them, the needles are coated in poison," Andrea stated, sniffing at them. She cringed. It wasn't a pleasant smell…

"_This_ is the kind of trap I'd expect from tomb layers, not some tripwire," Danny stated, "Feel around on the floor for a minute."

Ada and Andrea complied and the three of them shuffled around for a moment before Andrea found a pressure plate that went down under her wait. A few more needles shot out, some embedded themselves in the wall, and others clattered to the ground.

"Andrea?"

Without a word she placed her hands on top of the pressure plate and ice quickly spread out from underneath her hands, covering the floor, the walls and the ceiling so that the poison needles were no longer a threat. They continued onward. Once again they reached a drop where they found evidence of rappelling. Ada tripped one of the ancient traps that caused blades to fly out of slim horizontal openings in the wall and be thrown back and forth. They were forced to crawl on their bellies to get past it unscathed.

Ada tripped yet another trap – Bamboo spikes shooting down from the ceiling. Andrea was quick to stop them, freezing them over when they were partially extended.

They took to triple checking their surroundings for traps from then on. It took a bit more time than they would've liked, but when it came to their lives and treasure – They won.

Danny stopped them at the stop of a man-made staircase in the stone. It lead to an landing overlooking a large, lit-up area. He motioned for them to stay quiet and stay low, and they slowly made their way down the steps. Andrea and Ada stayed back in the mouth of entrance while Danny crawled to the edge on his stomach.

Peeking over the edge, he cursed under his breath, "Shit…"

* * *

**With Finn...**

"Guess they aren't alone in there," Finn said to himself while he walked through the campsite. It was small, three tents set up around a fire pit that was out and covered, which he guessed was to prevent a smoke stack from being seen, "No packs… Rations…" He rifled through what was left behind in the tents, but there was nothing that could definitively tell him how many people there were or what they were doing there.

He stood in the middle of the campsite. He had figured it out. Walking forward, he walked to the mouth of the cave – A man-made cave by the looks of it. Wood pillars were evenly spaced down the round tunnel. He stepped a few feet inside and placed on his hand on one of the pillars, "Magic… Wood-Make?"

He ran his fingers across the wall, "It's like it was dug with a drill… I don't think Earth Magic could be this precise... Hmm?" He sneered.

Cave explorers wouldn't just dig their own cave – Not with a perfectly good cave back there.

They weren't in there alone. Finn scratched his chin in thought, "If they meet up… This'll probably be their only means of escaping…" He smirked. He ran off in to the forest. There was work to be done!

* * *

Danny looked back wearing a rather annoyed smirk, "Tomb Raiders – Five of them. Three men, two women... Fairly sure I saw guns, but I didn't want them to see me." He, Ada and Andrea had their backs to the stone wall, trying to stay out of the sight of the Tomb Raiders. They had the large room lit up with lacrima – All of that gold, those jewels, all twinkling in the light. If they weren't there for something completely different and they had the time to do so without interruption, then they would have definitely pocketed some of it. Gilver would pay well for such a find…

"We can attack them," Andrea said lowly, raising her right hand and showing it slowly freeze over.

"We can't risk hitting the burial spot. This place is old, and they're so close to it, it'd be too much of a risk," He said in a more serious manner. He scratched the side of his head.

"What do we do?" Ada whispered, "What if they find it?"

"They're way to focused on the gold and stuff, I think we'll be okay," Danny assured her with a smile.

"Yay!" Ada cheered, only for Danny to quickly slap his hand over her mouth, the sound of skin and skin reverberating through their tunnel. The force which he had done it threw Ada off balance and the tip of spear scrapped loudly across the stone.

There was a long pause. Danny sweatdropped. Andrea smacked her own forehead, seeing as they had already been found out. Ada wept comedic tears, rubbing the large red hand print that covered the lower portion of her face.

"Shit! We got company! You two take the loot and go!" There was a shuffling, the light _'clink'_ of gold and gems being dropped on to the ground and rapid footsteps quickly growing farther and farther away.

"Don't hit the tomb, Andrea," Danny said, electricity sparking around his right hand. Just when the two of them were about to step out from cover and attack, they were bombarded by gunfire. Bullets chipped away at the stone and sparked against the walls and ceiling of the tunnel. The three of them pressed their bodies against the ground, "Or take cover from the gunfire! That works too!" Danny said, his right eyebrow twitching. He probably should've seen that coming.

"I hate tomb raiders…" Andrea murmured while curling up a bit more as the gunfire focused on her side for a moment. The onslaught suddenly stopped.

"They're reloading!" Danny exclaimed. He immediately shot up in to a kneeling position and raised his right arm, electricity sparking around his hand again. He fired a bolt of electricity that arced down in to the open area with the tomb raiders. An explosion followed and black smoke filled a majority of the room.

***Cough* *Cough* **"FUCK!" A woman screamed.

That was their cue. Ada and Danny broke in to a sprint at that moment and leaped over the edge, "Lightning Body!" Danny exclaimed, arcs of electricity surrounding his body, "I'm going after those guys that left! You handle them!" He said to them.

"Righto!~" Ada sang, bringing out her spear. Danny smirked. A moment later his body turned in to lightning with a somewhat human form upper half. He shot forward through the smokescreen he had created. At the speed he moved, a draft followed that blew the smoke apart, revealing three of the tomb raiders that had stayed behind, coughing and wheezing.

"Sh –Shit!" One of them wheezed. He looked up and through watering eyes he saw a figure growing closer by the second. He opened his mouth to warn the others when he was suddenly silenced by a blow to the top of his head.

Ada grinned from ear to ear, legs spread having just swung her spear down on top of the head of one of the tomb raiders. She made sure to hit him with the shaft of the weapon. He crumpled to the ground. Ada flipped over his unconscious body and safely landed on her feet. She didn't wait a second longer before she went on the attack again, this time her target being the woman.

She flipped her spear around and thrust the end of it in to her stomach. Her eyes flew open, her mouth fell agape and she doubled over. Her rifle clattered to the ground and Ada tossed her aside to the ground. She turned on the third and final raider, only to find a pistol being pointed at her head.

He was coughing, wheezing, and only one was open if barely after Danny's attack, "Got you ***Cough* **you da -" "Ice Dragon's Roar!" He was engulfed by a blue energy blast from a distance. A wave of cold wind swept by her and she shivered.

"Thanks, Andrea!~" Ada sand, waving to her guild mate, who wordlessly jumped down in to the open space. The white mist cleared from around the impact zone to reveal the final raider mostly trapped in ice, unconscious, "Now all that's left is Danny," Ada commented.

"Let's get this done, do you remember what we're supposed to do?" Andrea asked her and Ada shook her head in the negative, "Of course… Listen closely."

* * *

**With Daniel...**

"Lightning-Make: Lightning Bullet!" Danny exclaimed. A sphere of lightning expanded in between his palms, growing until engulfed his hands and his forearms halfway to his elbows. Electricity crackled and scorched the smooth stone walls. He fired a barrage of electric bullets that bombarded the wall of rock in front of him and exploded on impact.

Those tomb raiding bastards had caved in the tunnel before he could catch up and now he was stuck trying to clear the way. He stopped for a moment when a coughing fit took over. The smoke filling the tunnel had become a bit overwhelming and he waved his arms wildly trying to clear it, "Shit ***Cough* **Ah, well this isn't any fun…" He grumbled, scratching his head.

He pulled the collar of his shirt up and used it to cover the lower portion of his face and brought out a pair of sunglasses to keep any stray debris out of his eyes, "Lightning-Make: Lightning Bullet!" He assailed the rocks with another explosive barrage.

He started to slowly press forward. He stopped to rest and once again tried to clear the smoke, "Tch… What a bunch of assholes," He murmured, "And we'll probably have to find Finn in the caves… He isn't dumb enough to set off such obvious traps."

Waving away more smoke, his eyes widened behind his dark lenses when he spied several small rays of light peeking through in between some of the rocks. He drew his right arm back. Sparks crackled and a small rob hovered over the center of his palm, "Lightning Palm!"

The wall of rocks exploded forward and the blinding light of day poured in. Danny pulled his shirt down and took in a breath of fresh air, "All right!" He shouted, "You bastards are as good as – Eh? What the…"

"Hey there," There was Finn. He was sitting on a log and looking none-too-happy with his cheek resting in his palm and a light sneer on his face. Beside him were two of the tomb raiders beaten, bruised, slightly bloody and unconscious, entangled in a net made of vines and brambles. He winced – That couldn't have been pleasant.

"Figured they would try and escape," Finn said, "Easy prey – And the spoils go to the victors," He patted three large burlap sacks on his other side, "So, what did I miss?"

Danny chuckled, "Not very much… Not much at all – Just a fire fight, but Ada and Andrea took the rest of them down," He said, taking off his sunglasses and squinting his eyes in the light of the sun after being in such a dark cave for so long, "They should be…" He turned to look back at the mouth of the cave, "Out any time now… What the hell is this? This cave wasn't on the map."

"Man-made," Finn replied. He gestured to the male and female unconscious beside him, "Both of them can use Drill Body Magic, so yeah."

Danny nodded without a word. The two of them waited for a moment, but there was no sign of the girls.

A blue light suddenly flashed within and the two of them tensed up, "Ada! Andrea!" Danny shouted, electricity sparking around his hands. He couldn't hear any gunfire. If Finn had been stationed out here this whole time and they had been working there and intent on escaping through this same tunnel, then there wouldn't be any beasts inside.

Ada and Andrea appeared, running toward them. Ada was carrying something wrapped in cloth in her arms. Burnt cloth…

"What the hell happened to you two?" Danny asked, seeing their clothing both burnt in places and covered in patches of frost. Ada was both sweating and shivering at the same time.

"Fire trap…" Andrea panted out, "Ada… tripped it… Used… Ice to… stop it…"

"Whoops…" Ada said sheepishly, sticking out her tongue, "But look! We got it!" She unwrapped cloth to reveal a ruby statue: a hand with a ring on the middle finger that looked as though it were reaching for something.

"Kind of ugly if you ask me," Danny stated, shrugging his shoulders, "But the Master gets his treasure, and we get a nice pay day!" He walked over and held up two of the bags, a large grin spreading across his face, "Let's head home!"

* * *

**Translations... **

Verdammt noch mal - Bloody Hell

* * *

That's all.

So, in order to get mojo going, so to speak, I'll be putting out the next two chapters out fairly quickly if I can, like this one. You know, unless I have trouble deciding characters.

Don't forget to review if you want to see more. Every one helps

Later.


	3. Repossession

**And I'm back. It's incredible to me how quickly I can make up 4,000 word chapters - Usually takes me... A week or so to do 3,000. I think that's a good sign for this story :) Hopefully. **

**The Repossession Team... **

Sai Kono - **reven228 **

Axel Troust - **Me **

Zeno Turner - **The ****Guardian 1412 **

Marcel Fern - **IdentityCrisis.03**

**Yep, now it's just the Collection Team -** **Four Spots for the taking. Look on my profile for the form and details.**

* * *

'_You have one week. You will return their money to them and you will leave both the Helion Statue from the town church and the Sun Scepter in front of your manor unguarded. This is non-negotiable. Every day that the items remain in your possession is a day that we make your life Hell. In one week we will personal come for the items.' _

The note had arrived one week ago exactly. Seven days had passed and each day something new happened. On the first day, a squad of _twenty-four _mercenaries, all of whom were either skilled with a bladed weapon, firearm or versed in magic, he had sent in to town to interrogate the men and find out just who had sent the letter were found in the middle of the night outside of his manor wall – Piled on top of one another, all unconscious. All of them beaten and battered, bloodied and bruised, too scared to try and remember the events of the previous day.

The second day – All of the guards he had stationed outside of his manor wall to make sure nothing happened were found in the same state as the mercenaries the following morning. He was by no means a light sleeper – He'd trained himself to wake up at a moment's notice, but he had slept like a baby that night. There had been no sounds of fighting, not a peep from the guards outside.

The third day – Every single guard he had patrolling the outside of his manor were found unconscious on his roof. He hadn't heard a damn thing! No one inside had heard a damn thing! Several had looked outside throughout the night and the guards were standing there!

The fourth, fifth and sixth days did come with casualties, no, instead something inside his home terrorized him. Floorboards that were usually silent creaked in the middle of the night. Things disappeared and seemingly reappeared within hours. Items shifted in his study, seemingly falling over on their own. He could hear _whispers_ in the dead of night. Shadows passed in front of his windows, he could hear the padding of a dog through his home but he owned no animals! His guards searched the premises, every nook and cranny yet found nothing!

Dozens upon dozens, perhaps even hundreds, of threats had been made on his life, his businesses, his home – Each and every time his professional guards handled the problem swiftly and without mercy. If they were somehow too weak to deal with the problem, then he had several friends who ran and or worked for Mercenary Guilds – He could have a dozen of them at his doorstep within an hour.

He was untouchable – His connects in the black market, all of the officials he had under his thumb, whom he forced to look the other way when they caught on to his deals. There was nothing any person or law could do to stop him.

Damon Ritus was a nervous wreck. The short, portly man sat reclined in his office chair, all of the lights on in his office. He refused for one shadow to exist – He'd dealt with Shadow Magic in the past, they could slip right past his guards if they wanted to. His manor, surrounded by a thick, large stone wall was heavily fortified. The entire courtyard perimeter was lit up by large lacrima search lights.

He had guards in teams of three patrolling the grounds and at least a dozen stationed on the outside of his wall, two snipers in the watch towers where the lights were mounted and dozens more on the inside just waiting to be given the signal to attack.

He was sweating. His breathing was irregular – He wasn't in the best health no, but this never happened to him any other day.

"It's that damn note – Bah! They're bluffing! They're bluffing…" He tried to reassure himself, but failed miserably. Wiping his sweaty brow, he tried to calm himself down, but again he failed His hands shot up and pulled at handfuls of his brown hair. Once perfectly swept back was now a mess, just like the owner.

"Aah!" The wait was maddening. They had been torturing him for days now – Messages cut in to his wall! Several scorch marks left around his home and antique furniture burned to ash in the night! Dog shit! He couldn't take it anymore! He had half a mind to have his entire army march in to that town and level it! Leave nothing standing! Kill all of the men, the women and the children! All of the damned pets too! And if it persisted than he'd move on to the next! And the next!

"Hehehe… Yes! Yes yes! That should work perfectly… Wherever they might be, my personal army, all of the Mercenary and Bounty Hunting Guilds I could have at my disposal in a matter of hours, they could never hope to survive!" He cackled with mad glee, rubbing his hands together.

"Captain Kran! Captain!" He called. He clapped his hands to call the head of his Security detail, but he received no answer, "Captain! CAPTAIN!" He screamed at the top of his lungs but no one came. That man was being paid a handsome amount of jewels to protect him and he dared to ignore him?

Damon stomped across the room and threw open his doors. He expected Captain Kran to be standing across from his office door, as he should've been. Captain Kran was there, but not in the condition he expected. The commander of his personal work force and bodyguards was slumped against the wall, beaten, battered, bruised and bloodied. He was unconscious.

"Agh! Captain! What the hell?!" His head whipped around and his blood ran cold. Dozens of unconscious bodies littered the hallway on either side. He noticed they either had scorch marks on their bodies, torn clothes and bite marks or both.

Without another moment's hesitation he slammed the doors shut and brought his bookcase down in front of it using his terror induced strength. Damon scrambled for his desk and immediately threw open several drawers. He withdrew a pistol and frantically checked for the bullets. It was loaded.

"Damn bastards!" Damon hissed. He crouched down a bit more so that his desk hid him, "Thinking they can threaten me? Think they can stop me, do they?! I'll show them!"

"You gonna show us somethin'? Let's see, fat man!"

Damon froze. That voice sounded awfully close. As if it was in the same room. His blood ran cold in his veins and he audibly swallowed, trying to rid himself of the lump in his throat. Sweat beaded on his forehead and slowly rolled down his flushed skin.

He slowly looked up at his desk to see a face staring back at him. Slitted eyes, a wide smile, a man was sitting atop his desk with his legs folded and elbows resting on his knees. Damon let out a short scream. He scrambled back and leveled the gun at the intruder. He was gone?

The man was gone by the time he raised the gun. He had only blinked.

"I no like guns," He suddenly became aware of the person beside him, "I take that now," Before he could react, he felt a jab to his arm and from his elbow down his left arm went numb. The gun clattered on to the hardwood floor and was kicked to the wall.

Damon scrambled for his weapon only to be picked up by the back of his jacket and effortlessly picked up off of the ground. He was tossed through the air and landed unceremoniously in the middle of the room, "Ah, you heavy, fat man! You think about losin' weight!"

"Oof…" Damon rubbed his sore head as he sat up. The same man seated himself on top of his desk yet again. A grin spread across his face and he waved.

"Hi."

"You… You're the one!" Damon shouted, pointing an accusing finger at him. The man in turn tilted his head in a confused manner. He pointed at himself and looked around the room.

"Me?"

"Yes you, you damn filth! Attacking my home! Threatening me! Do you have any idea of who I am?!" Damon shouted, his fear quickly being replaced by rage. He stood up and the stumped expression of the intruder was replaced by one more serious. His eyes opened ever so slightly and it was enough that Damon could see his eyes. Those piercing blue eyes that rooted him to the floor and sent a terror filled chill up his spine.

"Sit down, fat boy," The man commanded in an even tone while he raised his right arm. He brought his arm down fast in a chopping motion the length of floor between them shattered a second later. Damon was thrown on to his butt and he clawed his way back toward the doors to his office.

They were thrown open and Damon's head whipped around for his eyes to be greeted by the sight of a large black wolf baring its gleaming teeth. The canine huffed and Damon yelped. He scrambled to his feet and ran for the book case. He barreled in to it and it turned around, revealing it to be a rotating door to a secret passage. It spun once due to the force of Damon slamming in to it and once again, and Damon was thrown on to the floor yet again.

"What the hell?!" Damon shouted, shooting up in to a sitting position. There was a third man leaning back against the bookcase. He took a couple steps forward before he withdrew a cigarette from the pocket of his vest. With a snap of his fingers, a small flame ignited on the tip of his thumb and used that to light it.

"…Hey," He greeted, "Damon Ritus… Let's have a chat. You've got a couple things we want."

Damon's head swiveled around. A one man was sitting atop of his desk. There was a young boy accompanied by a large hound, the same pair that he thrown his doors open and now this man, the one who had somehow found his secret escape tunnel.

"You... Who are you?" He quietly asked them.

"We ones who send letter, shit lord!" The man sitting on his desk exclaimed.

"You should've just given us the stuff we asked for," the boy stated.

It all became very clear then and there for him.

"H – How?! I have dozens of guards patrolling my home and the grounds all hours of the day and night! How could you have stacked those bodies without being seen? How did you get in my home?! I _know _you've been here for some time now, Yes! I see things move, and things change! I hear a dog but there is not one! The dog shit and the piss stains! Aahh! I hear floor boards creak and whispers in my ears at night! How are you doing all of this?! TELL ME!" Damon roared, hurling spittle in his manic rage, his usually neat hair becoming a mess atop his head.

The young man smirked a bit, petting the canine's head.

"They never saw us; we were invisible to them while we piled your Mercenary team up outside your wall," The smoker replied, exhaling a stream of smoke, "Nothing ever moved actually… Those were just mistakes on her part. Sorry about that…" He said dryly.

"Her?" Damon replied, "Who is 'her'? Who do you mean?" He looked around the room. There were three males and a damned dog, but no female.

"Me," Damon whirled around and there, sitting a chair that had not previously been there, was a girl. She gave him a small smile and waved, "Hello."

"Damon Ritus, meet Marcel Fern. Illusion Magic is her specialty," He stated, "For the past three days she's been manipulating your perception of reality – You see everything as hunky dory normal as can be, when in reality she's been sitting there. She's been moving through all of your secret tunnels and feeding us information."

Marcel Fern, a young woman of 19 and of average height. She was dressed in a simple loose fitting green shirt, beige shorts and roman sandals. She sat there, panting lightly. The last few days had been taxing on her magical energy, constantly using it and changing it. Her saving grave during the time was that she could dispel her magic at night. She casually sat by, playing with her dark brown hair, gingerly stroking one of the flowers decorating her French braid.

"Yeah, she real good at her job! You never see her ever, she coulda' kill you dead!" Sai snickered. Damon looked the innocent looking girl over and his eyes fell upon the small double edged sword. It was big enough to need two hands to wield but small enough for a girl her size.

He gulped and clutched at his neck. She could've lopped his head clean off in the middle of the night.

"The guy in red is Sai Kono," Axel said, jerking his head in the direction of the man sitting on top of Damon's desk. A man of 25 years, he was dressed in attire fit for martial arts with a red top with long sleeves and golden embroidery. His black pants reached his ankles and on his feet were black slippers.

"The kid with the dog…" Said dog barked, "Wolf… He's Zeno Turner, and the… _Wolf, _is Entei."

Zeno stood there with his hands behind his head. His bright red eyes bore down on the portly man on the floor. A young man of 16, he was a bit on the short side, a normal physique. He was dressed in a grey and brown stripped long sleeved shirt with a short black leather vest on top of it. A golden pocket watch hung from a belt loop of his tan shorts.

Entei was quite the wolf. He was slightly above Zeno's waist on all fours. His golden eyes were glaring, boring holes in to the side of Damon's head. He huffed and the man flinched. It made the canine smirk.

"I…" He exhaled another bit of smoke, playing with it to make rings of smoke, "am Axel Troust," The smoker was a bit more fancily dressed than the rest. His attire consisted of a dress shirt, the sleeves rolled up. A grey vest and red tie, black slacks and black dress shoes. His head of dark red hair was mostly hidden by the black fedora on his head. His dull hazel eyes caught Damon's gaze and the man flinched, "There, the introductions are out of the way."

"Ahahah! The little shit gonna piss his self!" Sai laughed, pointing at the shaking man.

Axel closed the distance between himself and Damon and grabbed the shorter man by the front of his shirt and lifted him off of the ground. Damon clutched at Axel's arm, clawing at it while he haphazardly flailed his legs to try and free himself.

Wasted effort.

"Did I do good, Axel?" Marcel asked, leaning back in her chair.

"Yeah, yeah you did good, rest while you can – We won't be here long," Axel replied, letting the cigarette floor on to the floor where he stomped it out.

"W – Wh – what do you people want from me?! What have I done to deserve this?" Damon whimpered, sniveling with tears brimming in the corners of his eyes and snot dripping.

Axel remained straight-faced, "Originally all we wanted was the statue for the Church and the Sun Scepter – but Marcel here did a bit of digging while she was here. Extortion, Debt Contracts, Hits, Running Brothels, if I recall the employee records stated that there are girls working there as young as _eleven_…" Axel narrowed his eyes. Sai's smile disappeared. Marcel focused her sullen gaze on the floor. Zeno glared while Entei gave an angry huff, "I left out quite a bit, but we're on a schedule."

"We'll be taking the statues, the Scepter, all of the deeds to every property you own, every piece of blackmail you have at your disposal and all of the debt contracts you have – We'll be taking every last jewel you have too – Bank accounts included but don't worry too much, Marcel has the numbers to all of them already," the girl waved a colorful notebook at them.

"Y – You can't do this!" Damon screamed, renewing his efforts to escape, "You're gonna ruin my life! You can't do that! YOU CAN'T!"

"Can," Axel stated.

"Will," Zeno added.

"Are about too," Marcel with a smile.

"And there not a damn thing you can do, shit lord!" Sai exclaimed, his grin returning.

"So," Axel started to back away and Marcel joined him, Zeno and Entei and the doors, "Let's start with that vault, shall we?" He brought out another cigarette and lit it. Sai jumped up from his seat on the desk and raised his right leg in a near perfect vertical split. He brought his leg down and shattered a large portion of the floorboards in front of him in to a rain of splinters and small fragments.

It opened a passage way downstairs below the manor.

"STOP THIS NOW! YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME! I AM DAMON-FUCKING-RITUS! DO YOU HEAR ME?!" Damon screamed while Axel carried him. He led the group consisting of himself, Sai and Entei in to the lower levels while Zeno stayed behind to look after Marcel.

"Fatty ever gonna shut up?" Sai asked, speaking louder to try and talk over Damon. Entei barked, clearly annoyed as well if the glare he shot Damon's way every few seconds was any indication.

"Probably not…" Axel replied.

"…I kill him now?"

"We're not gonna kill him, Sai," Axel replied dryly.

"UNHAND ME NOW YOU PIECE OF DOG EXCREMENT AND I MIGHT TELL THE MERCENARIES TO LEAVE SOME BONES INTACT WHEN THEY FIND YOU!"

"…I kill him later?" Sai asked.

"… Maybe. We'll get the stuff and see where it goes."

"AAAAAAGHH!"

* * *

***Knock Knock Knock* **

The mayor raised his head from his pile of paperwork. He opened his mouth to speak, intended to turn whoever it was away as he was far too busy to talk, but the door opened a moment later. Four individuals and a large dog filed in to his office carrying several briefcases which they sat on desk stop one another, "W – What is this?" The mayor stuttered, adjusted his glasses on his nose.

"Millions of jewels formerly belonging to Damon Ritus," Axel stated, taking a seat across from the mayor and lighting up a cigarette, "A portion of which is the money extorted from your town."

"Oh, please, I can't stand the smell, could you -" Axel exhaled a stream of smoke before the mayor could finish speaking. The man sighed and wiped at the sheen of sweat forming on his forehead, "Quite…" He looked at the briefcases, "You… How did you do this?" He asked them, in awe of their accomplishment.

"He was less than forthcoming with statue," Axel stated.

"So we decided to go in and take it," Zeno added, "And since we were there… Why not, right?"

"I … I see…" The man started to chuckle, "This is… This is most generous! Thank you ever so much – I… What?" Axel slapped down several folders filled with papers, "What is this then?" He pulled the folders toward him and opened up the top.

"Contracts, deeds, his blackmail, the works," Axel stated, "I expect you to burn all of them, free the girls and all that…"

"Yes… Yes, of course!" The mayor exclaimed, looking even happier than he was before, "This is absolutely incredible! I'm quite impressed with your work!" He skimmed through the papers and he clapped his hands, laughing heartily! It was all there! The blackmail on himself, judges, Guild Masters! Damon Ritus now had very little leverage, if any at all! He could shut down those awful brothels, reunite families – The Church would have its beloved statue back as well!

"I take it that you returned the statue, then?" He asked, not looking up from the papers.

"Yep," Axel replied.

"Good… Very good! Haha!" He looked up and looked them over. His eyes stopped on Sai and the man waved, "Young man, set that briefcase would the others – You must've forgotten about it, my good sir, but don -"

"He didn't forget it," Axel stated dryly.

"Huh… Whatever do you mean?" The mayor asked, shaking his head in a confused manor.

"He mean this money ours, fat boy!" Sai replied, holding up the briefcase, "This cool mil all ours!"

"A – a million jewels?! Preposterous! You received your payment as promised, five-hundred thousand as requested! And it was no easy task mind you, collecting those funds! I see no reason to take twice as much!" The mayor got up from his seat but a loud bark from Entei shocked him in to sitting back down.

"We didn't double anything," Zeno stated, "We're taking this on top of the five-hundred grand you paid us."

"What?!" He was taken aback, "That is this towns money and I will not have – What are you doing?!" Zeno took another briefcase and handed it off to Marcel.

Axel twisted the head of his cigarette against the top of the mayor's desk and he stood up. He loomed over the mayor, staring down at the quivering man who put on a brave face with an expressionless face. He put his hands on the desk and leaned down a bit.

"We didn't have to do what we did," The mayor's eyes widened hearing this, "Our job, specifically stated by you, was to retrieve the statue of your church that was taken. We also had our own business with Damon Ritus, but that was our business. We didn't _have _to free all of those enslaved girls, those fathers and sons working in factories, we didn't _have _to retrieve the blackmail keeping that piece of shit out of prison and keeping you and all of the other idiots that decided to do something incriminating under his thumb, we didn't have to do a damn thing about any of that."

Smoke started to rise from underneath Axel's hands. The Mayor looked for help only to see Sai no longer smiling, one of his eyes partially open and sweat started to form on his forehead. One the other side, out of the corner of his eyes he could see Zeno with his arms cross and Entei sitting next to him, staring at him.

"We could've left it all with Damon, we could've taken it for ourselves… But we decided to give it back to you. We went out of our way to help you in a big way, so we deserve a bit of extra compensation."

Axel back off, taking his hands away to reveal black hand marks in the wood sprinkled with gray ash. He brought out another cigarette and lit it with a flame he created on the tip of his thumb.

"Second briefcase ours too now," Sai stated, "You be a greedy fuck, and we up our cash."

"Wanna make it three million?" Zeno asked, "Or we could take back the papers?" He shrugged.

The mayor immediately threw his body on top of the papers, causing the stack of briefcases on his desk to topple over and hit the floor hard enough to open. Brightly colored bills scattered across the floor, "No! I … I apologize deeply. Thank you all for your assistance."

"Better," Axel stated, "If Damon gives you any trouble, you know who to call… Our fee is gonna be one million though."

The mayor's mouth fell open and the four of them took their leave without another word. Marcel stopped to wave goodbye before she shut the door behind them. The mayor slumped in to his seat and he removed his glasses.

"My word…" He murmured, wiping the sweat from his face, "Crowned Heir… Despicable ruffians."

A loud bark from nearby caused him to yelp and hide underneath his desk.

* * *

"Good day, eh, Entei?" Zeno asked his wolf, scratching the wolf behind the ear while they walked. Entei wagged his tail appreciatively and barked in turn.

"We got the Scepter, we got two million jewel and we got gold!" Sai exclaimed, happily swinging the burlap sack in his other hand just to hear the contents rattle around, "Hehehe, we rich."

"So, Axel, what do you think the announcement is about?" Marcel asked him.

He exhaled a stream of smoke in to the air, watching the sky as he walked, "I can guess… But I don't really know. We'll see I 'spose…"

* * *

**End. **

Another chapter down and the Repossession Team is set.

Oh and as for Sai's grammar, that was intentional – Imagine a broken English accent, which was at the behest of the creator, and I freakin' love it XD It reminds me of Shenhua from Black Lagoon. And to be fair, we don't really know what language is spoken in Fiore or the Fairy Tail World. To me it's a mix everything, anything could be out there.

They're not the nicest guys, in case you didn't pick up on that XD And Axel's line, if you can guess which one before I spoil it, were my true feelings – Introducing was kind of a pain, and I still don't think it worked, but it's out of the way now. So, yay for me!

Collectors. That's what I'm looking for and the whole crew will be announced next chapter.


	4. Collection Gone Bad

**The Collection Team… **

Drayden Kresczech – **GhostOfOnyx**

Baron Steelraven – **scrawlx1012**

Sascha Bren – **AxiosDreamcaster**

May Frome – **Hilinarema  
**

And yet again I hated the Character introduction - I never can handle those well... Anyway, they're out of the way, so I am freakin' thrilled. We're about to start things off with quite a bang, people! I hope you enjoy!

* * *

Crowned Heir wasn't as lively. They were downright bored, and had been for hours now…

Sai sighed, lightly flicked one of the metal balls at the end of his hair braid, "This boring… Why we not take 'nother job again?" He turned to Axel who downed another shot, stacking the glass on top of the other five.

"Gilver's orders… No jobs…" He replied dully. His head fell forward and hit the bar counter with a thud.

Zeno was sprawled out on the floor, looking up at the ceiling, and Entei was lying on his back doing the same.

Andrea was on her own, sitting with her back against the wall, away from the others. Using her ice, she made frozen spots on the stone floor and used her clawed finger to make patterns and doodles.

Finn was busy telling Marcel and Ada all about his adventures before Crowned Heir and even enlisted Danny's help – Having him use Lightning Make to make creatures.

All they could do was wait. Gilver had said he wanted the entire Guild there to hear his announcement and he meant it. They knew he would emerge from his throne room until everyone was present.

* * *

"_CCAAAWWHH!" _

A spine-chilling screech and the flap of giant wings. The Collection Team of Crowned Heir moved as quickly as they could with these sounds at their backs, using their respective magic to give themselves boosts forward to try and outrun their chasers. Two massive birds, their bodies bare save for the grey and black feathers covering their equally large wings. Their heads were covered by a white, skeletal mask with upper portion of a beak. They released sound bursts that exploded around the Collection Team.

A giant of man occasionally swung back and destroyed the bursts in order to cover the two in front of him.

The two birds were bombarded by electric bolts and bullets from all angles. They attacked with clawed talons, hitting the blue bolt that zipped around them only for their attack to pass through it. One pecked at it while the other lashed out with one of its clawed feet.

The blue bolt shot between them, shooting them both with electric bolts that exploded on contact with their armored skulls. High above them now, the blue electric bolt took on a human shape and a human torso formed while the legs remained a mass of bluish-white electricity.

Drayden Kresczech, seventeen years of age. At 5'8" in height, his bluish-white spiky hair poked out from underneath the hood of his coat. His heterochromatic eyes glowed with his magic energy and electricity sparked around them.

With his Asteris Magic he fired another volley of electric bullets, bombarded the backs of the two Rocs. They had fallen for his tactic. They turned to attack him – Charging his magic energy around his hands, he clapped them together just as they opened their mouths to reveal their dozens of gnawed, yellow and blood-stained teeth, "Asteris: Solar Flare!" A blinding bluish-white light was released.

In the confusion, he shot between them, flying back toward his team on the ground.

The giant man shrunk to a human size just as Drayden touched down near them, falling in to a run to keep pace.

"Done," He stated in a monotone.

"Good," His male teammate replied, "That'll buy us some time, S -" He was interrupted by a duo of familiar screeches, "Apparently not much," he grumbled, "Sascha, go to the Guild and tell them we're bringing visitors."

"'Kay!~" One of the girls sang. Her body was surrounded by a faint golden aura and she uttered one word, "Sonic!" And she disappeared in a burst of speed.

Baron Steelraven, the defacto leader of the Collection Team. At twenty years old, his tall stature and muscular build made him quite the imposing mage. His Titan Magic only helped enforce this. He shed his torn, grey trench coat, leaving him in his usual pink shirt, blue trousers and black boots.

The world lit up behind him and he spied his lengthened shadow. Drayden had done as he asked and the Asteris Mage would return any second now. After their latest mission, he was certain that combined they barely had the magic to defeat one Roc, a nasty beast that was not easy to best. One Roc alone would be fairly simple actually between the four of them, he knew, if they were a bit more rested, but two? He didn't like their odds.

'_Just a little farther now…' _

* * *

"Little shits… I gave them all the same message at the same time – The least they could do is show relatively the same time. All this waiting is gonna water down the excitement!" He went from impatiently tapping to repeatedly stamping. His bare foot smack against the stone again and again, until one finally stomp caused the ground to crack. His foot sank in to the stone slightly and a several cracks spread out.

"Tch… This gives me a bit more time to choose, I guess…" He murmured to himself. He hopped up from his throne and started to pace. He was fairly set on his decision, but it didn't hurt to think things over. He was absolutely sure they would win – They were Crowned Heir after all.

He didn't want to just win though. He wanted to annihilate any obstacles – Whether it be during the events or Guilds trying to screw with them. He stopped mid-step and his ears perked up.

"What the hell?" He said, looking up toward his ceiling. The crystals giving off light shook a bit. His brow furrowed…

* * *

"What the hell?" Danny looked around, like several others were doing, "Did anyone else hear that?"

"Big bird wings… And cawing?" Ada questioned, tilting her head. They had their own theories about it. That was all silenced by the tell-tale, echoing creak of the iron gates opening. Their focus went to the entrance tunnel and they waited for the screams that were sure to follow.

Instead, a girl appeared in a burst of speed, panting heavily and smiling dumbly, "Heyoooo!~" She sang, waving to them all.

"Sascha? What the hell are you doing here? Where's your team?" Zeno asked, the ear-like points of his hair twitching randomly while he looked around.

Sascha Bren, easily one of the most energetic in the Guild. Of normal height and weight for a girl of nineteen. Her sandy blond hair was in its usual high ponytail. It was hard to believe sometimes how such energy could be contained in such a rather small body. The sleeve of her purple, slightly-too-big-for-her jacket flailed wildly while she waved to them.

"We've got trouble, ehehe," She replied, shrugging and looking a bit sheepish. "Yyeeeeaah… Those Rocs didn't like us taking their eggs!" A grin spread across her face while most of the guild members deadpanned, "Outside! Hurry!" She waved for them to follow and she disappeared in a burst of speed. The Guild jogged after her. At least now they knew what was making that racket.

They emerged and Sascha was there, waiting for them.

Two very large, winged beasts were moving swiftly despite their massive size and even larger wing-span. They lashed out with their wings, their sharp beaks and talons. They never one another and if they got too close together, one would back off. They could see a slim bolt of electricity shooting around them, firing off bolts at random times while avoiding their attacks.

"Well, shit…" Axel, Danny and Sai said in unison.

"Ehehe! Sorry!~" Sascha sang, still appearing sheepish, "Mind lending a hand?"

Several of them stepped forward and engaged their magic, preparing to attack the two birds of prey. They started at a steady walk toward the fight, seeing as it was coming toward them anyway.

Sascha laughed happily. She took a running start toward the battle and she leaped in to the air, "Sonic!" A burst of wind came first and she disappeared in an instant. She closed the distance between herself and one of the rocks, rocketing in to the bird's stomach feet first and delivering a devastating dropkick with such strength that it caused the creature to jerk back and let out yet another screech.

"Hahaha!" She laughed even as she started to fall. The Roc regained itself and lashed out at her with one of its talons. Sascha stopped looking for a moment and looked at the descending claw with something akin to wonder. Her grin returned.

She was swept away by the electric bolt and moved safely out of harms. She found herself in a pair of arms and the bolt solidified in to a human body, "Thanks a bunch, Dray!" She exclaimed, wrapping her arms around his neck. He nodded as they fell to the ground. They watched as the two Rocs were bombarded by fireballs and electric blasts. A volley of arrows struck them both, temporarily stopping their attack.

Drayden and Sascha neared the ground and their fall was cushioned by the appeared of a large grey cloud. They sank in to it for a brief moment before they bounced out.

"Thanks, May! Good Luck!~" Sascha cheered in a sing-song voice.

"May!" Baron grew to a larger size, and his right arm to an even larger size. He turned on his heels so that he was facing the rocks and he slid to a halt, his heels digging trenches in the ground. The girl by his side immediately hopped in to the palm of his hand as he reared his giant arm back.

"Rraagh!" It took effort to move such a massive limb, even it was his own Titan Magic he used to enhance his body. With a battle cry, Baron launched the girl at the two birds of prey just as they recovered from Drayden and Sascha's attack.

May Frome, nineteen years old and the second dragon slayer of Crowned Heir – The Cloud Dragon Slayer. She was easily one of the more laid-back members of Crowned Heir as well.

May yawned as she rocketed toward the Rocs, her hair and clothes whipping wildly as she flew through the air. She lazily smiled, twirling around the attack of one who lashed out with its talon and avoided the beak of the second. She stopped herself in mid-air right in between them, and there she set Baron's plan in to motion, "Cloud Dragon…" White clouds formed around her feet and hands, more pouring out from her mouth, "Fluffy Typhoon!" She started to spin rapidly, the clouds she exuded spinning with her and creating a small tornado that steadily grew.

The Rocs attacked with their wings, their beaks and their talons, but each attack passed through without stopping May's. The winds picked up and the clouds grew darker. The Rocs were slowly pulled in and partially engulfed, unable to escape the pull of the tornado. Their ungodly screeching grew in volume and they thrashed, trying to break free. They were finally thrown from the tornado, one higher in to the air and one toward the forest below. They regained themselves and immediately attacked the slowly shrinking funnel of clouds.

"Deadly move, shitty name…" Axel stated, lightly another cigarette.

"Nimbus!" May emerged from the mass of clouds riding a small white cloud. With it she nimbly dodged around attacks from the two Rocs. She let out a yawn and peered over her shoulder, "Dumb jerks…" She turned to her guild mates on the ground and she waved, "Sorry guys, I tried!"

May leaped off of her roaming cloud as it got closer to the ground and she jogged over to her Guild mates. The twelve of them focused on the two large Rocs. The birds of prey were shaking off the shock of May's attack; it wouldn't be long now before they went on the attack.

They readied their magic for another onslaught. A powerful wind blew past them from behind, strong enough that it caused some of them to slide forward. The two Rocs seized up, let out another pair of deafening screeches before they fell to the earth.

"Bah! That was almost painful to watch!" A man exclaimed. A human figure dropped down in front of them. A long black coat with white fur lining was draped over his shoulders. He shouldered a sheathed katana as tall as himself, wrapped in bandages from the guard to near the tip of the sheath. He turned on them, smirking in a mocking manner, "Letting them chase you, get the better of you like that! I should dock your pay for that Collection Team!" Several of them winced, "But I'm in a damn good mood today! I'll let it slide this time!" They perked up almost immediately.

Gilver looked over the group of twelve gathered together and then peered over his shoulder at the two downed, unmoving Rocs. These were certainly not the ideal conditions he wanted to make such a grand announcement in – He had everything planned out! He'd had lacrima ready with trumpets and a drum roll for his arrival and the announcement itself respectively. But oh well… They were all together, so he couldn't think of a better time.

"Everyone," He shouldered his sheathed weapon. A grin spread across his face, revealing his sharper than normal teeth, "We'll be competing the X784 Grand Secret Treasure Games again this year!"

"That big news?! That bullshit is what is!" Sai shouted!

"What the hell are the Grand Secret whatevers?" Finn asked.

"Tch…" Axel started back toward the guild hall.

"_RUFF!" _Entei was not pleased.

"We could've beaten the Rocs if you didn't rush us!" Baron said, face-palming.

Gilver's grin twitched and he leveled a glare at the group. Half of them made their way back in to the Guild Hall without another word, and some were still griping. The few who stayed behind were mainly the newbies who knew next to nothing about the games, or the ones who were genuinely interested – the dimwitted ones. He sighed…

"Don't look so bummed, Master!" Danny said, "We're excited!" He flashed him a bright smile and a thumbs up.

"Little disrespectful shits…" He grumbled, "All of you get the hell inside! Shoo! Go!" He waved them away and they jogged after the others. Gilver stabbed the end of his sheathed sword in to the ground and huffed, "Such an awesome announcement… Would've been cooler with the trumpets and drumroll… Ugh, the younger generation pisses me off."

He turned on the two Rocs and tore his sword from the ground, "No need for you two to stink up the place," He took hold of the hilt with one hand and held it reversed, extending his arm back and spreading his feet apart, he readied himself to attack.

* * *

**Inside Crowned Heir...**

Gilver, with his coat now draped over his shoulders once again, stopped in the center of the hub for the Guild Hall. At least everyone was there. Danny and Axel were in the area designated for smokers if they were going to indulge in their deadly habit in the Guild Hall. Finn had Marcel, May, Sascha, Ada and Drayden enthralled by one of his stories from his days before Crowned Heir; Zeno and Entei were relaxing on their own, and Andrea was doing the same.

Baron had a table to himself, book in hand. Sai had sat himself at the bar with his back leaning against the counter top, drink in hand.

Gilver smirked. It was the same old stuff, "Oy! Listen up! Full, undivided attention. Now!" He demanded. Heads turned and as soon as he knew he had the twelve pairs of eyes he was looking for focused on him, he continued, "I didn't receive very good reception for that announcement, soooo…" He snapped his fingers and a drum roll started to play.

"Crowned Heir – We are going to be competing in this year's Grand! Secret! Treasure Games!" Gilver pumped his fist in to the air. The girls clapped, but that was the extent of the crowd reaction, "All of your be excited or all of you can expect ten-thousand less jewels in your pay."

"WOO!"

"All right!"

The applause were absolutely deafening, especially in open area. Gilver folded his arms and smirked, "All you little shits care about is money… I couldn't be more proud," He murmured, chuckling to himself.

"What the hell are theses 'Games'?" Finn asked, "Like legitimate hunting?" He seemed to perk up, "Because I am an awesome Hunter! You know that! I could win it single-handedly! Let me compete!" Gilver appeared next to the young archer in an instant and grabbed him by the back of his head. He promptly slammed Finn's face in to the wooden table.

"Shut up, will ya?" Gilver said, grinning viciously, "Don't interrupt me again, Brat."

He took his hand away and Finn raised his head, clutching at his nose, "Aww! That freakin' hurt, Dammit!" Finn yelled, stomping his foot, "Oww!"

"To answer your question, it is the Grand Secret Treasure Games! A tournament held every year for the Treasure Hunter Guilds of Fiore!" Gilver walked away from the still angry, yet intrigued young man. Finn sat himself down, holding his still reddening face, "These games dictate which Treasure Hunter Guild is the strongest, the greatest, the best Guild in all of Fiore!"

"Best Treasure Hunter Guild…" Axel amended.

"But we're the best nonetheless!" Gilver quickly added, shooting the smoker a quick glare, and he just stared back with a deadpan expression, "Crowned Heir competed twice in the games before and the very first time we won! Though it's not like there was any doubt we would win," Gilver said with a confident smirk, but that quickly twisted in to a sneer, "The second year was meant to be a title defense, but we lost."

"What happened?" Finn asked, others casting Gilver curious looks.

"The last time we competed was X782 and that year the final competition was a Tournament, pretty cut and dry," Danny stated, "A few obstacles thrown in here and there, it was nothing we couldn't handle!" He smiled for a brief moment. He let his cigarette fall on to the floor and he stomped it out, twisting his boot on top of it rather harshly, "One of the competing teams, Sacred Gear, decided to attack us during the intermission – Andrea's arm got shattered."

The Ice Dragon Slayer curled up a bit more, rubbing her right arm.

"I was pretty beat up too – That year, the set up for teams was three main competitors and one to three substitutes in case of serious injury, or even death. Marcel was the only substitute Gilver signed up," Several glares were leveled at the Guild Master, but he stood there, unblinking, "When it came time to fight, Sacred Gear was our opponent and the judges thought nothing of our injuries despite that fact that we came out of our last fight nearly unscathed, so we lost."

"Damn…" Finn murmured, "You guys suck! I've both arms useless in the past, and I was fighting a huge fish monster, rows of sharp teeth and it was poisonous too! But I still ma -" An electric bolt shot past the left side of his head and scorched the stone while behind him. Finn's eyes narrowed…

Danny stood there with his arm still outstretched, pointer and middle finger together with electricity crackling around them, "That was hell for us, shut your mouth, newbie, before you say something I make you regret," Danny threatened him with a smile on his face.

"Tch…" Finn took his bow from his back, holding it in his left hand. He pulled back his right arm as if he were pulling back a physical arrow and blue magic energy from his fingertips created a slender bolt with a pointed tip, "Try it, I'd put one between your eyes before you blinked."

"Confident as always…" Danny replied, the electricity charging around his fingers for another shot.

Axel stomped out his cigarette and quickly jogged past Danny and out of the way of the fight. He joined Sai at the bar and had one of the barmaids get him a drink, "Five-Thousand on the Archer…" Axel said, taking off his fedora and twirling it around his pointer finger.

"Hehehe – I not takin' that bet," Sai replied with a grin, balancing his glass of whiskey on his pointer finger, "Finny gonna die. Not good odds…" Finn's audience of his stories spread out as not to be hit in the crossfire. Gilver was the only one left standing in between them.

"No one's fighting," Gilver stated, "I'd tell you both to take it outside or I'd kill you… But no, no fighting!" His shout to his sides and their magic was pulled from their hands in to his palms. Finn and Danny's magic created a small blue and yellow orb respectively in his hands and he promptly crushed them.

"And Finn, Danny neglected to tell the worst of it," Several bowed their heads, "We were betrayed by one of our own – Forbas, our third man, a Guild Member who quit the moment lost the competition, had tricked Marcel in to putting the others under an Illusion, via his Marionette Magic. Danny and Andrea never saw them coming, Forbas had forfeited when the others were unable to continue."

Gilver shrugged off his coat to reveal the large Guild mark on his back, in black. He smirked and raised his right arm, bending it to point down at the symbol on his back with his thumb.

"That's in our past now! Finn, you'll be one of the competitors this year!" Gilver exclaimed, "Drayden!" He then pointed to the masked young man who blinked in confusion, "Sascha!" Then to the hyperactive girl, who then cheered, throwing her hands in the air, "Zeno!" Both Zeno and Entei raised their heads, "You four will be competing this year! And you four will take us to victory!"

* * *

**End. **

The Grand Secret Treasure Games – What Gilver said in the Introduction actually did mean something. These are the Grand Magic Games for Treasure Hunters. Bet you didn't see this happening so quickly.

Will I be accepting ideas for events – Probably. At some point.

And the OC accepting doesn't stop there… Well, for now it has! Yeah, no more OCs for a while, but then I'll be asking for more eventually once I figure out just how many I need.


	5. Danny vs Finn

**Hey guys! **

**The feeedback I got was amazing! I was sooo happy! Thank you all.**

**So there was a bit of delay with this chapter. I wasn't able to write for a couple days and then yesterday there was a whole thing where FanFiction wouldn't come up - Wasn't solved until late and I didn't feel like posting it then.**

**But it's here _Now!_**

**I hope you all enjoy.**

* * *

"When are the games going to start?" Ada asked, raising her hand, "I really want to know! I want to know if I have time to make banners and flags! We can really cheer everyone on and get them super pum -" Gilver covered her mouth.

"No talking…" He said, "You're too damn chipper."

He took his hand away and she was pouting, "Aw…" Ada slumped in her chair.

"When _are_ the games supposed to start?" Danny asked, "And better yet… Do we know who is competing?"

Gilver smirked. Looking around the guild, he could see it some their eyes – They were looking for one name in particular. He finally shook his head, "'Fraid not – They sent a letter and wanted to know if we were competing or not – Which we are."

"And? It wasn't like that the last two times we competed, they sprung it on us both times," Ada mused, thinking back, "Do we know what the first event is?"

"Nothing – They just wanted confirmation, that's all," Gilver replied, shaking his head. He scooped up his coat and carried over his shoulder. He made his way to the table that had his trophies and the collection of cash and valuable items set on top of it.

He took the ring from the middle finger of the ruby hand and slid on to the ring finger of his right hand. He admired the ring for a moment and nodded, "Good…" He admired the next piece, "The Sun Scepter… In mint condition. Not a scratch… Well, Repo Team… Well done, well done indeed…"

"I don't know which haul was better, actually…" He said, scratching the side of his head, "Collection Team… Adequate… Point deduction for wasting my time with those damn birds," Sascha and Drayden appeared sheepish. May lazily shrugged, and Baron snapped his book shut. Gilver cleared his throat, "But again, adequate… I'm in a good mood! Twenty thousand jewels for each of you in your next paychecks!"

Sai and Axel shared a look, "He sick?..." Axel didn't reply and Sai turned to Gilver, "You dyin', boss man?!"

"Ahahahaha!" Gilver burst out laugh and flashed them a toothy grin, "Ah! I just said I'm in a good mood! Is that so strange?"

"Yes!" Everyone answer immediately. There wasn't a second of hesitation.

Gilver deadpanned, "Seriously?..."

"Seriously." Again, they all answered, even Drayden and Andrea.

"Huh…. Ahahahaha!" He burst out laughing. He raked his fingers through his wild orange hair, "You bastards! Ahhahaha! There's more to you lot than your collection skills – You're worth keepin' around after all!" He exclaimed, walking back toward the entrance to his throne room with the scepter and most of the money.

He stopped, "Everyone who is competing… Open your ears and listen," He didn't know whether he had their attention, but he kept talking, "Whatever the challenges after – The first event always seems to be elimination, even out the number of competing guilds. Be ready to fight tooth and nail – I'm talking rip out throats, break bones… If it comes to that kind of stuff that is. Don't hold back."

The twin iron doors to his throne shut with a heavy slam behind him.

"Tch… Makes it sound like we're weak," Finn huffed, leaning back on the back two legs of his chair. He interlaced his fingers behind his head.

"He doesn't want you guys getting caught off guard like we did last time we competed," Danny replied. He played with a couple of coins on his table and he smirked, "I guess he doesn't want to destroy Sacred Gear… Or whatever Guild decides to mess with us. That's a lot of medical expenses and property damage."

"I can handle anything they throw at us," Finn stated.

"You'll have teammates," Zeno interjected, "What? Don't trust us to have your back?"

"I don't _need_ anyone to have my back," Finn said, setting his chair down and standing up, "I'll take'em all down before they can ever get close to me!"

Several eyes fell on him, "You think so?" Danny asked, "Your reaction to me little jolt before wasn't all that great."

"I knew you wouldn't hit me – You weren't bluffing, I just knew you'd miss," Finn replied with a smirk on his lips and shrug of his shoulders.

"_Großspurig Brat! Ich sollte dich erwürgen! Ihre Haltung- __" _Danny shot up from his seat, sending his chair to the floor with a crash. He started shouting, he slammed his fist down on the tabletop, cracking it and electric bolts arced out from his fist and left blackened spots.

"Danny…"

The Lightning Mage rounded on Axel, "What?"

"You're speaking that language again," The Fire Mage replied dryly. Danny's shoulder slumped and he deadpanned.

"Ah… I got worked up again, didn't I?..." Several members of the Guild nodded their heads, "Oh… Whoops!" He chuckled sheepishly. He cleared his throat and leveled a glare at Finn, "You cocky brat! I should throttle you! That attitude of yorus is going to get you killed in the Games! They don't pull any punches! Talking that kind of shit… Outside! We're gonna settle this!"

"Eh? I don't have to prove shit to you," Finn replied. He swayed to the side, avoiding an electric bolt. It shot past him and scorched the wall.

"You could get someone else killed… I don't care too much for a newbie like you, but them…" He smiled a wicked smile, "If the games didn't kill you… And they didn't make. I'd put you in a gave faster than… Well a lightning bolt."

Finn's brow furrowed, "I've faced beasts whose teeth are as big as you… Think I'm scared?"

"You _really _should be…" Danny replied, popping the knuckles of both hands and flexing his arms, electricity running down them from his shoulders to his palms. Tension was high – The air was electric. Finn slowly took his bow from his back.

"Hold it!" A large fist blocked their view of the other. Their eyes fell on Baron and he glared at the two of them, "If anything is destroyed, then Gilver takes it out on _all _of us – Take your fight outside," He retracted his arm and the rest of the Guild agreed with him, taking a few steps toward the warring pair. They didn't want to face the Guild Master's wrath either.

Danny and Finn locked eyes and both of them started for the guild entrance, never breaking eye contact.

* * *

**Outside... **

"Ready?" Danny asked, taking his sword from his back and stabbing it in to the ground, "I'm not gonna pull any punches, _newbie._"

Finn leveled a glare at the Lightning Mage and took his bow from his back. He may not have been with the guild for very long, but he's been there long enough to know that they never bluffed. He had to fight hard from the get go if he didn't want to lose, or worse – lose a limb.

Danny smirked and slammed his fists together, "All right...!" He fired a lightning bolt from his palm. It closed the distance between them in an instant and Finn was lost in a small explosion.

"Too slow…" Danny murmured, "That won't be good fo-!" Danny jumped back just in time to avoid a trio of arrows crashing down on where he stood last. He tilted his head up, and there was Finn, in mid-air with his bow and an arrow at the ready, grinning from ear to ear.

'_Not a scratch… Not even a dust mark…' _Danny thought, a smirk tugging at his lips. His body was surrounded by an aura of electricity and his physical body started to break apart.

Finn fired another barrage of arrows and Danny, in his Lightning Body, jumped around, outrunning Finn's arrows. The Archer mage came close several times, but Danny managed to stay just out of reach of his attacks.

Finn landed on his feet and Danny went on the attack. His upper body solidified and he lashed out at Finn with a lariat. The Archer mage ducked under it and sprung forward in to a roll. Danny whirled around and fired off another electric blast.

It exploded behind Finn at his back. He stood up and spun on his heels, pulling back another arrow. He knew where the Lightning Mage was – His electric body gave him away even through the thick smokescreen the blast had created.

Danny pierced through the smoke and thrust his fist forward. Finn weaved around it and rolled forward, rolling just under Danny's leg when it solidified. The two of them spun around and shot their attacks at the other – The electric bolt and the magic arrow collided in the air.

"Shredding Arrow!" Finn exclaimed. Just as he let his next arrow go, he twisted the end of the stave, giving it a spiral. It pierced through the smoke cover and dispersed it. Danny was exactly where he expected. The Lightning Mage pulled back his fist and supercharged it with electricity.

He countered with the arrow with a punch and shattered it, and it in turn shattered the shell of lightning around his fist. Blood dripped from a couple shallow cuts across his fingers.

"Not bad…" Danny said, rubbing his hand. Electricity sparked around his wounds and he winced as they were cauterized by the heat, "But you should think about doing better."

"Tch… I'll show you!" Finn shouted back. Danny entered his Lightning Body form yet again and shot forward. Finn fired arrow after arrow. He rolled to the side to avoid Danny barreling in to him. The Lightning Mage made a sharp, upwards turn in to the air and came crashing down like the bolt of lightning he was.

Finn crouched down to keep himself grounded, but he lost his bow. He watched his weapon slide away from him and he punched the ground. That was going to make things that much more difficult for him.

Danny solidified, and Finn sprung in to action. He put up his fists and ducked under Danny's right hook. Finn threw an overhand punch with his right hand, hitting Danny square in his face and making the Lightning Mage reel. Finn attacked with a left to Danny's stomach and a right to his cheek.

Danny charged his fists with his magic energy and threw a jab that Finn narrowly dodged. His thumb brushed against Finn's cheek and several eyes widened.

'_He dodged…' _Baron thought, eyebrows raised.

'_No one but Drayden can really match his speed…' _Zeno thought.

"He's so fast!" Sascha exclaimed in awe, "Yaaaay, Finn!" He jumped up and down, waving her arms while she cheered on the Archer Mage.

"That's our Finn!" Ada stated, clapping her hands together happily. They stood idly by as Danny unleashed an even more powerful electric bolt that exploded on contact with the ground. A strong gust swept by them, "But I don't know who to root for…" She sighed.

"He's not faster than lightning," Baron stated.

Danny tackled Finn full force, using the speed of his lightning form to his advantage. His shoulder struck Finn's chest and threw the Archer Mage back. Back-flipping mid-flight, his feet touched down on the ground a moment later. He slid back across the ground, pulling back a new arrow as he did so.

"Longinus Arrow!" Finn exclaimed. The tip of his glowing arrow split and became two-pronged, "Hah!"

Danny stood his ground. Electricity sparked around his feet and shallow craters formed underneath his feet. His electric magic engulfed both of his arms. He thrust out his arms and grabbed the two prongs of the arrow. He was slowly pushed back, his feet digging shallow trenches through the ground.

"Scatter Shot!" Finn pulled back another arrow, the blue energy changing to red. He let the arrow fly and it immediately split in to a dozen smaller shots that arced around the Longinus Arrow, homing in on Danny. The Lightning mage was unfazed…

His grip tightened on the prongs of Finn's Longinus Arrow. He was surrounded by an aura of surging electricity, "Lightning… Burst!" He pulled his hands apart, shattering the arrow. At the same time he released a burst of energy that created a growing dome around him. Finn's Scatter Shot shattered on impact and the shockwave it created threw Danny in to the air.

The Archer Mage performed a skillful backflip and safely landed on his feet. A lightning bolt landed at his feet and Finn reeled back in surprise. The bolt took on a human shape and solidified in to a smirking Danny. The Lightning Mage delivered an uppercut to Finn's chin and set the Arrow mage in to the air.

Danny quickly grabbed Finn's ankle and slammed him in to the ground, "Too slow…" His grip tightened and Danny sent a few volts through Finn's body. Finn gritted his teeth, clawed at the ground and seized up.

"…Aagh!" He cried out.

"Bein' electrocuted ain't fun…" Several members turned their heads to see Gilver standing behind them with his arms crossed, "What the hell is going on? I thought I made it clear – Finn isn't allowed to fight. No competitors are."

"It's for training purposes," Baron stated, "And for some peace of mind – He's confident, but we need to know it's not just for show."

Gilver cast the Titan Mage a glance for a brief second. His attention went back to the fight at hand in time to see Danny get blasted in to the air. The Lightning Mage fell to the ground with a thud, a hole in his shirt with smoke rising from that spot.

Finn lay there panting, arm extended with his thumb pointing up and his pointer finger extended. His finger was smoking, "Ow…" He shook out his hand, "That hurt," He didn't waste any more time. He got back on to his feet and collected his bow.

Danny was surrounded by an aura of electricity yet again. Several arcs shot out and struck the ground. He was slowly raised on to his feet and once he was standing on his own, the aura vanished. Danny was smirking. He waved the smoke away from his chest and brushed at it, "Good shot… Didn't know you took up Bullet Magic."

"I won't always have my bow," Finn replied, pulling back another magic arrow, "Now stop talking."

Danny rolled to the side in time to avoid the arrow. He jumped around, dodging Finn's onslaught of arrows. He charged his electric energy around his fists and he countered arrows that came close – If he didn't have his reflexes, then he would have been hit several times over. He could've been dead. Finn was looking to injure him - he could tell.

"Lightning-Make…" Danny slid to a halt. His magic energy gathered in his palms, taking the shape of orbs, "Twin Fangs!" He crushed the orbs and created dual lightning swords. Finn let loose another barrage of energy arrows and fired three more in quick succession. Danny used the swords and his speed to protect himself – Slashing at speeds that the swords and his arms were blurs.

They could see him smirking amongst the fragments of Finn's shattered arrows.

"Defend against this!" Finn shouted, charging more energy in to a single arrow. He let it go and Danny crossed hisarms in front of him. He slashed both swords as the arrow came within range and the arrow struck the center of the 'X' his swords created.

Danny was engulfed by the blast.

"Heh…" Finn smirked, "Beast Killer Arrow!" He let fly another, and then another.

"Finny not holdin' back… Maybe I take bet after all," Sai mused, smiling mischievously while stroking his chin.

Danny emerged from the mass of smoke and dust Finn's explosive arrows had created. He touched down in his lightning form and quickly solidified, "Not bad… But you need to work on your aim!" Danny stated. Finn glared at the Lightning Mage and his grip tightened on his bow.

"I'll show you! Battalion Arrow!" Finn pulled back on the string and this time the thin fiber lit up with his magic energy, at the same time he created a slender arrow. The tip grew rounder and took on an orb shape, "Fire!" He started firing dozens of arrows per second, not letting up for a single second.

Danny ran with small explosions tailing him. Finn's barrage hit the ground in his wake. Danny used Lightning Body to shoot forward toward his sword, and Finn quickly cut off his Battalion Arrow. The slender energy shaft still remained and he quickly took aim at the broadsword stabbed in to the ground.

"Beast Killer!" He let it fly.

Danny wrapped his hand around the hilt and the sword came to life – Surrounded by an aura of electricity just like its wielder.

He was engulfed by the blast.

"Yes!" Finn cheered, pumping his free hand in to the air, "That'll freakin' teach you to mock me, dumbass!" He laughed with a grin on his face. He whirled around to face the onlookers, "You guys see that? I'm the best! Took me a bit longer than I thought, but I did it! I - … Hey… Why are you guys splitting up like that?" His reverie was interrupted when he noticed something odd. The other members of Crowned Heir were moving off to opposite sides, clearing a path for him.

He puffed out his chest. Obviously it was a sign of respect – He was the victor. He had won over a veteran of the guild. He took a single step forward, and then he felt the electricity in the air. He could feel his hair standing on end.

Finn whirled around only to see the explosion area surrounded by electricity. It split and revealed Danny, unharmed, holding his sword over his head with one hand. The electricity that surrounded him wrapped around the blade and the arm he used to wield it, "Lightning… Torrent!"

Danny swung down with all of his might and the electric energy surged forth from the sword. Finn reeled back in horror as several bolts of lightning shot forward and tore through the ground as they approached him. Finn tossed his bow in to the air and crossed his arms in order to protect his face and chest.

"Aaggh!" He was struck by the lightning bolts, unable to protect himself and was engulfed in an explosion soon after.

Danny waited a few seconds before he tore his sword up from the ground and shouldered. He smiled a bit, admiring his handiwork. Several trenches had been torn through the ground, scorched and smoking. At the end of the line was Finn, sprawled out on his back.

The Archer Mage lifted his right arm and caught his bow as it came down. His arm plopped down a second later.

"Finn!" Ada called out. She, Sascha and Marcel came to a halt around him. The Spear Mage crouched beside him, "Are you all right? How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Ugh… Three… I'm fine," He closed his eyes. The sun was bearing down on him, even lighting up the darkness of the inside of his eyelids – The light grew dimmer. Opening one eye, he closed it a moment later seeing Danny there, "If you're gonna gloat… Get it over with," He sighed.

Danny said nothing. He didn't blink. He looked down on Finn with a straight face and an even expression. He walked around the group without a word.

"I'll be taking ten grand out of your paycheck this week, Danny boy," Gilver stated. To that, the Lightning Mage shrugged. Gilver nodded, "Got your peace of mind?"

"Yeah… I wanted to make sure he wasn't too green… He's good," Danny peered over his shoulder, "We've got a good chance this year."

"We'll win," Gilver smirked. He turned his back on them and started for the Guild Hall, "It's already been decided." The Guild Master didn't look back as he made his way inside. Their team was strong – Drayden's Asteris Magic was versatile to say the least. Sascha's Sonic made her quite formidable, and with all of that energy of hers, she could easily outlast many fighters and be just shy of winded. Finn gave them that long distance advantage with his Arrow Magic and his inhuman accuracy. Zeno and Entei – Their tag team skills were only matched by two other pairs. They were powerful, and downright vicious in battle if pushed far enough.

A wicked grin stretched across his face.

* * *

"Are we really just gonna leave him?" Ada asked, pouting a bit. She looked back over shoulder at Finn, still lying on the ground after his fight with Danny, "Can we at least drag him in to the shade."

"Don't help me!" Finn shouted, making her flinch.

"Aww…" Ada murmured. Danny petted her head.

"Don't worry about him, Finny'll be fine, trust me…" He looked past her to his downed teammate. He smirked and leaned down, "Besides, he said no help – He never said we couldn't keep him company," hearing this Ada brightened up and nodded vigorously.

Andrea seated herself in the shade of a tree, "You're gonna stay to, Andrea?" Ada asked.

"Yeah…" She murmured, "It's nice out…" She looked up toward the sky.

Danny and Ada took their seats near her. Finn didn't protest. He just laid there with his eyes closed.

The other members of Crowned Heir made their way back inside.

"What you think?" Sai asked Axel, the two of them walking in step, falling behind a bit behind the others, "The Games? What you think?"

"What do you mean?" Axel replied.

"Think anything gonna happen?" Sai said, his tone rather serious.

"The Games never go off without some kind of problem," Axel stated dryly, "Somethin' is bound to happen. I'd be surprised if something didn't."

"Indeed," Baron added, having fallen back a bit, still walking ahead of the two of them, "You bring up a good point, Troust. I'll have to warn Sascha… But I doubt that that bundle of energy will remember a word I say by the time the competition begins…" He sighed.

"Zeno can hold his own," Axel stated, "Little bastard doesn't hold back…"

"I can hear you, you know."

Axel cast a brief glance over his shoulder to see both Zeno and Entei glaring at him. He exhaled a puff of smoke, and faced forward. The boy's ear-like points twitched and he closed his eyes, "Chain-smoking jerk…" It was a compliment and an insult. He didn't take kindly to the 'bastard' part.

Drayden was walking along, Sascha hanging off of his back, chatting his ear off and talking excitedly about the upcoming tournament. Baron watched them both and he nodded. He had faith in their abilities, even if they were both competing in the games for the first time, _'We'll have to wait and see what happens.' _

* * *

**End. **

**Translations… **

Danny pretty much said what he had been saying in German and then some.

**Ending Notes. **

The majority of this was fight, but I still think this one worked out. Danny had his reasons – And it looks like he's a bit more at ease. I'd say by Chapter 7, maybe 8, I'll be looking for more OCs – Antagonists. I figured I should give you guys a heads-up so you can start thinking!

Until Next Time!


	6. The Test Begins! Five Minutes or Bust!

**Hey guys! Chapter 5 – We're just getting in to this GTG Arc and I thought we should get the ball rolling a bit. I do want to apologize for grammar mistakes, not only in this chapter, but in... i think all of them XD I think faster than I can type, and I end typing out the next thought before I've finished the last one. That... And more really. Maybe one day I'll get around to fixing it, but for now I can only hope that the mistakes aren't too bad.  
**

**Again, absolutely amazing feedback! I'm going to thank all of you by name now, those who reviewed Chapter 5...**

**Thank YOU! **

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**Thank you. And to all those who have stayed invisible, but have read all of the chapters, thank you as well. Enough of this, Go! Go and read the action unfold in a decent manner, in my opinion! Go on now!**

* * *

"Ugghhh…" Finn groaned as their vehicle headed down a particularly bumpy path. They must've hit something, because a moment later they all jumped in to the air. Drayden, being the tallest of them, hit his head on the roof of the carriage and he burst out laughing, "Ah, ouch! That'll leave a mark!" Finn snickered.

"Mmm…" Drayden averted his eyes, focusing on his feet while he rubbed the sore spot on his head.

"'Bout time something happened…" Finn sighed, leaning his head against the glass window on his side. The five of them, himself, Zeno, Sascha, Drayden and Entei had been trapped inside of a Magic Vehicle that was transporting them to the location of their test. The only times they stopped were for when nature called, especially for Entei.

"We should be there soon… I hope," Zeno said, running his hand down his face. Entei nudged his hand with his nose and Zeno scratched behind the wolf's ear, "You getting restless too?"

"Bastards…" Finn growled, "They make us wait a freakin' week just to make us travel all this way… This town that's in the middle of freakin' nowhere... This test better be worth the trouble!" He looked around the carriage – Zeno and Entei were relaxing, Drayden had gone back to silently looking at the window at the scenery as it went back, and Sascha – Finn's eyes widened. She was fast asleep! They hit another something on the road and bounced up yet again. Drayden, once again, hit his head, and Sascha was tossed around like a ragdoll, but when she settled down in to her seat, she was still fast asleep.

"I… I don't think I've ever seen her… Not awake before," Finn said, leaning in a bit to get a closer look.

"We forgot sweets…" Drayden stated rather quietly, "She crashed…"

"So all of that energy is one big sugar rush or something?" Finn asked, poking Sascha's side and then her cheek. He didn't get any kind of reaction. Drayden shrugged in reply and covered the girl with his trench coat, "That's just great… She had better wake the hell up for our fight… Or whatever it is we have to do!"

"Geez, you're annoying…" Zeno sighed, rubbing his temples, "Stop talking like you're the leader here."

"But I am," Finn replied bluntly. Both Zeno and Drayden looked at the young man as if he had grown a second head. They looked for some kind of indication that he might have been joking, but his expression was as blunt as his answer: He was serious, "What?" He asked, "Isn't it obvious?"

"Like hell!" Zeno shouted.

"_Ruff!" _

"We're here!" They heard the driver shout from the front. Finn, Zeno and Entei were on the side with the better view and Drayden stood up to get a better look as well. It was a quaint town – A few shops here and there, there was nothing all that exciting about it.

"We came all this way… for this shit?" Finn asked with a deadpanned expression.

"Quit complaining," Zeno replied, "We haven't even gotten to the testing area… Wherever that is."

"That's another thing!" Finn shouted, throwing the door open, "They tell us 'Go to these coordinates' but they freaking neglect to tell us where the testing location is, what the test is, it's all a bunch of b-"

"Woooow!" Sascha exclaimed. Finn jumped back out of surprise – She was awake and active, looking over the small town, "This place is cooooool!"

"You were fast asleep! Wh –What the hell?!" He looked over his shoulder in to the carriage where she had been sleeping before. She had been right beside him the whole time!

"Don't question it: She's Sascha," Zeno said, stretching the stiffness out of his limbs, "Let's get going."

"You," Finn called to the driver, "Stick around. We won't be long."

He nodded and put his hand on the pistol holstered at his side. Finn joined the others, "That guy sure is on edge – I think he's ready to shoot someone."

"This town does look kind of sketchy," Zeno replied, "I don't really blame him."

"Wwwwoooooooowwww!" Sascha cheered, "Guys! Check it out!" She waved her arms wildly to get their attention. They didn't need to ask, it was quite obvious what she was so enthralled by. The five of them titled their heads back, looking toward the top of the massive coliseum.

"…Holy Shit!" Finn shouted.

"I've never heard of some huge arena," Zeno said, looking it over, "We… We would've heard something about this, right?"

"It's gigantic…" Drayden said.

"Do you think they have snack stands?!" Sascha asked, jumping up and down in her excitement, "Yay!" She disappeared, the shock wave her sudden move made knocked the three young man on their butts. She was gone…

"A bundle of energy, she is," Zeno sighed. The four of them made their way through the town – Sascha was busy zipping around, talking to random people. Drayden attempted to ask her not to do so, not to draw so much attention to them, but he barely formed one syllable by the time she left.

"That doesn't seem odd to any of you?" Zeno asked, "This town is pretty… Rustic looking, yeah, that's about right… And then there's a huge stone arena in the middle of it all?" He glanced down at Entei and the look in the wolf's eyes told him that they were on the same train of thought.

"Doesn't matter!" Finn exclaimed, "What does is that the sooner we secure our place in the Games, the sooner we can get back to work! Think Gilver will give us a pay raise if we make it back fast enough?" Finn led the way, while Zeno and Sascha chatted, the hyperactive girl leading the conversation. Drayden silently followed, merely looking around. He received a few glares and he pulled his hood up to cover the rest of his head save for his eyes.

"I don't like the looks we're getting…" Zeno said, taking quick glances around them. Entei huffed in agreement.

"Don't get so worked up, we can take'em all on if they decide to try anything!" Finn exclaimed, hitting his chest with his fist, "I certainly can! I've tangled with Jade Tigers! The treacherous Volcan Vulcans! A bunch'a thugs are nothing compared to that thing! Tricky Bastards…" He started mumbling to himself.

"Brag some more, why don't you…" Zeno sighed, shaking his head, _'If we get mobbed, I'm blaming him.' _

"Lighten up guys!" Sascha used her Sonic to get in front of them and she walked backwards, "I bet they're a bunch of really nice people!"

"What makes you so sure about that, eh?" Finn asked.

"I'm not!" She replied bluntly, her smile never faltering, "_But_! I'm sure if we got to know them, they would be!"

"I wouldn't count on that…" Zeno murmured. The stink-eyes, the unsavory looks, the glares. He was on edge – Waiting for anyone of them to make a move. He didn't want to start anything, but these people were making it very hard for him to keep his composure. He sighed.

He turned to Drayden, "She must be a handful, huh?" He asked, a light smirk tugging at his lips, "But it must be nice too, having someone so upbeat on your team."

Drayden nodded in reply, "She is… Nice."

"I'll bet."

They came to the entrance of the massive stone coliseum and they all stopped. A steel gate was all that stood in their way. Gears grinded together and the gate slowly rose. They made their way inside…

"Welcome," They entered the arena and were greeted by a rather large man. His skin was deeply tanned; his bare torso was defined, packed with strong muscle. He was decorated with battle scars, big and small. The top of his head was bare; by he bore a short, scraggly black beard. He had all manner of trinkets hanging from his wrists, belt and his pants.

Their attention was quickly torn away from him to the beast by his side, bound in chains, a collar and shackles.

The body of a lion with a shaggier mane and fur, the hooves of a stallion, the tail of a scorpion, grey wings with a black outer shell, a growling, scarred dog head emerged from the mane on either side of the lion's head, revealing that the horns before were attached to their foreheads. It was a terrifying abomination.

"What the hell…" Zeno murmured. He felt the bile rise in his throat. Entei growled, but a thunderous bark from the dog head made him whimper.

"That thing isn't cute at all…" Sascha said, hiding behind both Drayden and Finn, "What… What is that thing?"

"A Mantimera," The man stated, "A horrifying combination of both the Manticore and a Chimera – A beast of natural birth, in fact, we believe it's the only one of its kind. We have no idea how it came to be, but such a rare beast… It's quite the find. Priceless."

"Well that's great for you, but why is it here?" Finn asked, tensing up. He slowly reached for his bow.

"You four are from the Crowned Heir treasure hunter guild, yes?" He asked them, and they nodded in turn, "I am Bertolt Bersaille, a Beast Tamer. I will be overseeing your test - You're going to fight it," He stated bluntly, "You're going to fight the Mantimera and take the golden feather it as on each of its wings."

He brought out a bone-like object from the many trinkets hanging from his belt and raised it to his lips, "Wings!" He barked at the beast. It snarled in reply, and he blew. The Mantimera let out a frightening roar from the lion head. The dog heads ducked in to the fur, the whimpering still very audible.

"Ugh, I never wanted to hear this again!" Finn shouted, covering his ears.

"RAISE YOUR WINGS!" Bertolt demanded in his booming voice. The Mantimera opened his wings and revealed its grey feathers to them again. Now that they knew what to look for, they noticed a single golden feather amongst the grey on both wings. The whistling stopped and the Mantimera angrily growled. It folded its wings against its body.

"I have to place a five minute time limit on this battle," Bertolt told them, "If you fail to obtain the two golden feathers, then you don't have a place in the Grand Treasure Games this year. End of story."

"That's bullshit!" Finn shouted, "Why only five minutes?"

"Quit complaining!" Bertolt shouted back, "Every team has some kind of handicap for their trial. Treasure Hunters usually have to work with deadlines looming – If you're not fast enough, then you can kiss that treasure goodbye! The pay day! The jewels! It'll be going in to someone else's pocket!" He wasn't wrong. They all had their fair share of memories of having to rush through jobs in order to get the item they were searching for.

"Five minutes or bust, then!" Zeno stated, taking a fighting stance. Entei crouched lower. The two of them were surrounded by a golden aura.

"I've tangled with bigger, scarier beasts than this!" Finn exclaimed, taking his bow from his back, "Bring it on!"

Bertolt nodded, "Excellent! That kind of fire will get you far! If you make it through that is – Let the test commence!" Bertolt leaped in to the stands. He snapped his fingers and the iron binding the Mantimera disappeared. He blew on the bone whistle and shouted at the top of his lungs, "ATTACK!"

"_Rrraaaggh!" _The Lion-head roared with all its might. The Mantimera galloped across the arena, closing the distance between them quickly. It reared back on its hind legs and flailed its front two.

"Scatter!" Finn shouted. The five of them dove out of the way as it came down with a heavy crash, its hooves creating shallow craters in the ground. Drayden's lower half broke down in to whitish-blue electricity and made a shape turn toward the Mantimera's left side.

"Haagh!" With a charged punch, he struck the beast's side and Finn fired several arrows to add to the damage. The Mantimera stood its ground. It lunged at Drayden, unfolded one of its wings to strike him with, but he was already in the air.

"Hi!" The Mantimera looked down at Sascha, standing before it waving and smiling. It lowered its lion head and growled, huffing a bit of hot from its nose in to her face. She continued to smile, and patted its muzzle, "Good, kitty-monster! Go – Oh?" All three heads emerged and inhaled deeply. She was pulled toward by the force of the suction, and then all three let loose powerful jets of flames.

"_And _it breaths fire?!" Finn shouted, "What the hell?"

"Bad Kitty-Monster!" Sascha appeared from above, using her Sonic to give herself a boost and she came down feet first on the Mantimera's slamming the lion head's chin in to the ground.

"Look out!" Sascha was swept away by a lightning bolt, and a scorpion tail pierced through the trail it left in its wake. She and Drayden slid to a halt a few feet from the beast. The Mantimera set its sights on them and charged them.

"Zeno, get its attention!" Finn shouted, firing several arrows at the Mantimera's hooves, but it ignored his attacks. Drayden attacked it several electric jolts, but it was unfazed. Sascha used Sonic to get out of its path of destruction and Drayden took to the skies yet again. The Mantimera opened its wings. It was ready to give chase…

"No you don't!" Zeno attempted to attack from behind. He dodged the swift stabs from its scorpion tail and grabbed for one of its hind legs. It kicked back suddenly, its heavy hoof hitting him square in the chest and sending him crashing in to the arena wall, "Uwagh! ***Cough***" Zeno hit the ground with a thud, coughing violently, holding his chest.

"Shit!" Finn cursed, "Over here, you furry asshole!" Finn fired several shots to keep the Mantimera's attention on him, "That's right! Follow Finny!" He said mockingly, firing more and more arrows, slowly backing away as the Mantimera started to advance on him.

"_Ruff!" _Entei entered the fray with a headbutt, his and the Mantimera's colliding with such force that it made the beast slide back from the wolf, while Entei shook off the exchange. His body was surrounded by a golden aura, and the wolf bowed his head lower, growling threateningly.

"_Rrrrraaaaaggh!" _The Mantimera let out a mighty roar.

"_Ruff!" _Entei barked just before he jumped in to action. He launched at the Mantimera at an incredible speed, butting heads with the lion head yet again. Entei pushed off and flipped higher in to the air. The Mantimera recovered quickly and the two dog heads emerged from the lion's mane. All three let loose powerful streams of fire, and Entei countered with a howl. The sound waves kept the flames at bay and kept him airborne as well.

"Cosmic Star Bomb!" Zeno fired a purple energy ball from afar. It collided with the Mantimera's side, creating a small explosion and then he fired several more, engulfing the beast in a black smoke cloud.

"Hah!" Sascha flew in to the cloud at sonic speeds and the Mantimera was thrown out. Its hooves dug deep trenches through the earth as it tried to stop itself, and it staggered. Drayden attacked from above with electric blasts that caused the Mantimera to cry out in pain and rage. It unfolded its wings, it crushed the ground with its tail and stomped its hooves madly. All three heads spewed flames, and huffed out puffs of smoke from their nostrils.

"This one's got a temper," Finn said, taking aim with his both. A bead of sweat slowly made its way from his temple to his chin, "Usually if you make a beast angry, it gets sloppy… It's usually a good thing…" He started to strafe around the Mantimera, "Now… I'm not so sure."

"_RRRRAAAAGGGH!" _Its roar was deafening. Both Sascha and Entei were thrown off balance. Drayden felt it from his spot in the sky and he felt a cold chill run through his electric body.

"C'mere!" Zeno grabbed the Mantimera's tail from behind, "Cosmic Force!" His body was surrounded by a similar golden aura that had surrounded Entei and he pulled on the tail, nearly pulling the Mantimera off balance. It gave another pained roared and its tail suddenly stiffed, "Huh…! Oh – FUCK!"

"_Ssssss! Sssah!" _

"WHAT!?" Zeno screamed, being pushed to the ground by its tail that kept pushing back while the main body fought off his teammates. Yellow, slitted eyes opened and the rounded portion under the stinger cracked open to reveal several sharp teeth, gleaming, dripping saliva. It hissed and a purple forked tongue lashed out made a shallow cut on his hand.

"Its tail is a snake too?!" Zeno shouted, holding the armored serpent near its neck so that it could not bite him. He snapped at him several times, the point of the scorpion tail stinger coming dangerously close to his forehead.

"It's quite the monster!" Bertolt laughed from afar, not even attempting to hide his pride, nor his enjoyment for that matter, "You have one minute by the way. Fifty-seven seconds to be precise… Fifty-five… Fifty-four…" He ticked off the seconds loud enough for them all to hear. Finn was very tempted to take aim at the Beast Tamer, but he had other matters to tend to.

"Agh! Wonderful! … Cosmic Shock!" His hands sparked with bright purple electricity and an electric shock was sent through the tail, electrocuting the entire monster.

"_RRRAAAGGHH!" _

"Don't let up! Beast Killer Arrow!" Finn shouted, firing a single powerful arrow that exploded on contact with lion head.

"Hah!" Sascha used her Sonic to launch herself at the beast at such speeds she created sonic boom. She delivered a dropkick to the left dog head, sending the whole creature flying in to the arena wall, "We got'im cornered!" She cheered happily, using Sonic to get away from the beast.

"All together now!" Zeno exclaimed, "Cosmic Star Cannon!" Zeno charged a ball of light purple energy in his right palm and Entei charged a similar one in his mouth.

"Asteris Plasma Bomb…" Drayden murmured. The three of them fired a trio of energy attacks that bombarded the downned monster. It let out a frightening roar just as it was engulfed in black smoke. Finn didn't let up. He fired a single Beast Killer arrow in to the smoke cloud and the explosion was quite large.

The five of them braced themselves just as a powerful gust of wind passed them by. Smoke and dust had been kicked up and had filled the arena.

"Can't see!" Sascha whined, "***Cough Cough* **Dray? Guys? ***Cough***"

"I'm here," Drayden replied, tugging at the mask covering the lower portion of his face.

"***Cough Cough* **Geez… ***Cough* **I mighta overdid that…" Finn said, waving his arms.

"You think? ***Cough* **Entei! ***Cough***" Zeno said between coughing fits. The black wolf by his side ducked his head low to the ground. He inhaled deeply. His yellow eyes snapped open and its head shot up.

"_Aaaaaaaauuuuuuuu!" _Entei released a powerful howl. It blew through the center of the smoke cloud and quickly blew it away, pushing through the multiple entrances in to the arena. The five of them stood over the downed Mantimera – Its chest lightly rose and fell. It was alive, which didn't inspire confidence in any of them.

Finn bravely stepped forward and the eyes of the lion head snapped toward him. Their eyes met and Finn glared at the beast. Without looking his hand shot up, and even the beast seemed shocked. Finn caught the scorpion tail, the tip just centimeters from his tail. His hand was place was also holding the snake's mouth closed.

The tail didn't budge no matter how hard the Mantimera tried, and Finn smirked. He tugged on the tail several times, "Up… Up!" He commanded. Entei barked several times, making the dog heads emerge from the lion's mane. They growled back, but the sight of the Zeno, Entei and Drayden surrounding themselves with auras of their magics reduced them to whimpering like frightened pups.

"_Ruff! Ruff!" _

"Up!" Finn commanded it yet again, squeezing the armored snake tail with enough force to lightly crack its shell. The Mantimera slowly rose up on to its hooves with it head bowed, "Wings!" Finn commanded. Without a second of hesitation the Mantimera opened its wings for them. Drayden plucked one of the feathers, and Sascha ppulled the other free, holding it over head triumphantly.

The Mantimera folded its wings against its body and Finn slowly released its tail, which it retracted.

Applause echoed through the arena.

"Congratulations! Simply splendid! Admittedly your teamwork was a tad sloppy at the start, but you lot pulled through in the end," Their heads turned in time to see a well-dressed man jump down from the stands. He applauded their victory and slowly the arena around them started to waver. It broke down in to particles and they were left standing in the middle of nowhere. Not only had the arena disappeared, but so had the town and townspeople.

"Wwooooow!" Sascha exclaimed, tilting her head back in wonder. Her head swiveled around so fast she was beginning to blur. Drayden stopped her, "Thanks, Dray!~" She jumped on his back a moment later and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"W – What the hell?" Finn stammered, "All of it?... Really?"

"Yessir, a true masterpiece if I do say so myself – A bit taxing on the magic, but I'd say it was worth it!" The man replied with a smile.

"It felt so real," Zeno stated, feeling his back. He was still sore and he winced, "How?"

"When it comes to Illusion Magic, I'm one of the best!" The man replied with a bow, crossing his arm over his stomach, "Frederick Almarn is the name! Supervisor to the Grand Treasure Games, at your service."

"You mean you run the games?!" Zeno asked, rather surprised, "And you came out to see us?"

"Well, no, I don't run the games, and I'm just one of many who look after things – Make sure everyone stays in line, make sure events go smoothly, or as smoothly as they can go at the very least, because you know hectic the games can get – Any-who!" He exclaimed. He clapped his hands together and with a flick of his wrist an envelope appeared between his index and middle finger of his right hand.

"Here you are! This letter here will signify that you've made it in to the next round. Tell your Guild Master that we'll be contacting him soon with further news." Their eyes widened, because he was gone a moment later.

"W – When did he leave?! He… He can't just up and vanish like that! It's bullshit!" Finn exclaimed, running a hand through his hair.

"_Ruff!" _

"He… He didn't use Teleport… I don't think… Uhm?" Zeno was racking his brain trying to figure out what happened. Drayden and Sascha stood by, looking at the spot Almarn had been standing. Sascha crouched down and poked at the spot.

"…WOW!~" She screamed with utter delight. She hopped up and down and then pointed to that same spot, "He's even faster than me! Do you think he'll teach me? Do ya? Do Ya?"

"I doubt it…" Finn replied with a deadpan expression. Even with his negative answer, Sascha was still smiling, practically vibrating with energy. A smile spread across his face and held the envelope over his head, "And they doubted us! HA! We're moving on – That's a big screw you to you, Danny!" Finn exclaimed.

* * *

"Achooo! Ah, sorry…"

"Bless you!" Ada said, producing a tissue for him.

"Thanks," Danny replied, accepting it, "Ah… I wonder if a cute girl is talking about me?" He said, a stupid grin spreading across his face.

"Unlikely…" Andrea quietly stated from nearby, "It's probably Finn, if anything."

"Ah… Why ya gotta be so cold, Andrea?" He asked. Ada broke out in to a fit of giggles and he did his best to cover up his smirk. Andrea

* * *

"_Ruff! Ruff!" _

Zeno plopped down on to his butt and patted the wolf's head, "Well… What now? I'm happy we won and all. That we're moving on," He looked around, "Buuut… We're in the middle of nowhere. And I don't see the driver."

They all deadpanned.

"I guess we walk," Finn stated, shrugging his shoulders, "Hopefully he'll be nearby."

"Ah…" Zeno winced after putting pressure on his right leg, "Damn, I really hope we don't have to walk," He grimaced. Entei gingerly nudged him and he petted the wolf's head reassuringly. Drayden grabbed his arm and draped it over his shoulders and wrapped his other arm around Zeno's waist, "Thanks, Dray."

He nodded, and said, "Anytime."

"C'mon, for now we _have_ to walk," Finn sighed. Sascha cheered and jumpe don to his back, wrapping her arms around his neck, "Oy! Wh – what the hell?! What are you doing?!" Finn shouted, trying to shake the girl off.

"Dray is busy! So I wanna piggy back ride from you!" Sascha exclaimed happily.

"No way in hell!"

"Plllleeeease? With suger! And a cherry! And sprinkles! And - " A low growling interrupted her mid-sentence. The three males looked to Entei, but the wolf shook his head in the negative. They glanced toward Sascha who was smiling sheepishly, "I made myself hungry… Ehehe… Can we stop for ice cream?"

"We're in the middle of nowhere! What part of that don't you understand?!" Finn shouted, renewing his efforts to shake her off.

"… But if we find a place?"

"Uggggh!... Fine."

"Yyyyyaaaaay!~"

* * *

**End. **

Fight a giant monster with some rather high stakes on the line – Death was absolutely a possible outcome for any one of them, but worse though, facing Gilver's wrath had they failed, and then all goes back to normal :D

Was there any doubt? They had a bit of trouble with that monster, which was a mash-up of stuff I knew or at least thought I knew about each of those beasties, but all is well!

Expect a slightly delay with Chapter 6; it may not be out so quick because I'm just having trouble with the beginning. Keep an eye on my profile, or at least the story summary for an update, for I might just be adding a new OC form to me profile in the next couple o' days!

…Sorry, been playing a lot of Black Flag lately.

Later all.


	7. Like any other Day

**This was the longest chapter by far, 7000+… With the author's notes. That really wasn't the bad part, it was because this was a 'down time' kind of chapter where stuff slows down, and I am really bad at those XD That was the major reason for the delay.**

**I've said it in a past author's note – I was going to be accepting more characters, and I am again **** The form is on my profile. I don't mind if you submit again if you have in the past, but I'd definitely like to see new blood as well.**

******I want picking these guys to be a challenge :)**

**Make note of the chapter title :) I'm not saying this chapter is boring. I'm saying this is a Normal Day. _Normal._**

* * *

**Sai...**

"Ahahahaha!" Sai howled with laughter. As did the two women he had his arms around. It was the middle of the day, he had a few hours to kill before he had to return to the guild hall and he planned to put those few hours to very good use. Here he was, in the middle of the day with two drop-dead, gorgeous women on his arms, drinking and having a good time.

"Yeah! I pull lot of weight on my team, hehe! I do all the work most of time!" Sai bragged. He hiccupped, and was sent in to another fit of laughter. The women giggled, kissed at his neck and Sai's hands weren't exactly idle. The Repossessor kept his drunken mask all the while he spied a man glaring at him from another table. He drank heavily from the mug in front of him, and began to converse with three others around him.

Sai chuckled. He was definitely spending his time well.

"Oy!"

…

"Oy!"

…

"Oy!" Sai didn't move. A wooden mug closed the distance between him and the offender quite quickly. It struck his head and the contents spilled out over him and only slightly on the women as well. The shrieked and jumped away from Sai, while he sat there, "I… I freakin' remember you! You and some other assholes… You were the reason our guild disbanded!" The man kicked over his table with a crash, "You and... And those three other assholes! The Dog... A - And the Fire guy! And that sword wieldin' bitch!"

"Not first time I hear that," Sai replied casually, wiping his face with a napkin, "So? What you want?"

"Fight us!" One of the others exclaimed, "Better yet! Jump off a cliff or somethin'! Save yourself the pain!"

"Hehehe," Sai was giggling, "You… You want fight me? That it, shitlord? *Hic*" Sai asked, taking his arms from around the women. He leaned forward, a grin spread across his rosy cheeks and he opened a single eye, "Eh? That it?"

"Yeah… Yeah!" The man shot up from his seat, sending his chair to the floor with a crash. He was quick to grab a bottle and smash the base against the table to give a jagged, cutting edge. Sai kept calm, a smile on his face. When the man was joined by four others, his smile grew.

"Ladies…" The kissed the hand of one and then the other, "I be right back… This take a minute… Two tops," He hopped up. He hopped up and walked to the center of the bar. Several patrons backed away – They took their drinks and flipped the tables to use them as shields. The bartenders were moving fast, taking the more expensive bottles and hiding them away in order to try and keep them safe.

"Sai! Take it outside, will ya?" One of the barmaids shouted.

"Maybe…" Sai replied. He worked his neck, his shoulders – He started to stretch every limb he could while the four men surrounded him, "Now… You fight me at once, eh? No one at time, fight me all together!" He spread his feet and bent his knees ever so slightly. With one arm outstretched and the other cocked back with his hand near his head, he set himself in his fighting stance.

His eyes opened ever so slightly and the glint in his light blue irises unnerved many who saw them.

"C'mon."

* * *

**Outside**

"Uwwagh!" All four men were blown through the bar's front wall and in to the streets. They skid across the ground and stopped in crumpled heaps. They held their aching bodies and groaned in pain. Sai casually walked outside with his hands in his pockets, and a smirk on his face.

"Like I said – Two minutes tops," He stated, holding up two fingers for emphasis, "These shitlords will pay for damage… And my drinks!" Sai called over his shoulder. He turned to the four men, and found one of them to be conscious, "That right? Gonna treat me, buddy? For my trouble?" A wicked grin spread across his face. With the sun at his back, the shadow that was cast over his face made him that much more menacing.

The man, in his fright, threw his wallet at Sai's feet and immediately started to crawl away.

"Such nice people… " Sai mused. He scooped up the wallet and tossed it toward one of the bartenders. He looted the other three men, taking their money as well and tossing another one inside before he pocketed the last two, "And money for emotional distress!" His grin grew.

"Halt! You there! With black hair, in the red!"

Sai stopped mid-step, "Huh?"

A dozen or so Rune Knights made their way down the street in a tightly knit formation. Shields raised and spears shouldered, they jogged toward Sai, who stood in place. They stopped and started to surround him – They created a semi-circle around him.

"You again?" The Unit Commander stepped forward. He was the oldest of the soldiers, his eyes half-lidded and tired. The man sighed and palmed his face, "When are you going to learn – There's a damn knight outpost here! Starting trouble isn't in your best interest, Kono!"

"Hey! *Hic*" Sai hiccupped, stumbling a bit, "Shelf-defense… Mista' Tin Man! *Hic* They attack me first… I protecting myshelf! I wash scared for my life! Cut me shlack?" Sai asked, swaying on his feet. The Unit Commander did not look pleased. Without a word he brought a pair of iron shackles and an iron staff.

"We can do this the easy way, Kono," He held up the shackles, "Or the hard way," He held up the staff, "Your next move is crucial."

Sai straightened up. He was no longer swaying – His acting wasn't going to cut it this time. Not like it had done any good for him in the past, but it didn't hurt to try. He started to stretch. He hopped from one foot to the other, limbering himself up for the fight.

"Kung-Fu Magic…" He started. He raised his right leg high in to the air, nearly performing a perfect vertical split. His leg was surrounded by a thin aura of white energy, and a grin spread across his face, "Breaker Stomp!"

* * *

**Axel...**

Axel ground the last bit of his cigarette under his shoe. He exhaled a couple rings of smoke and he started down the road. Tiare Town was quite a ways from the Crowned Heir Guild hall, but it was the closest town with any kind of place of residence, and he didn't mind the distance. He preferred it.

He brought out his cigarette pack and gave it a light shake to pop one out. He grabbed it between his lips and with a snap of his fingers he lit it. He tilted his head back to stare up at the sky. It didn't know whether to be relaxed or bored – On one hand he was away from the madness: A Guild Maser who was the personification of greed, his crazy teammates, even though Marcel was pretty tolerable, and the rest of the crazies. On the other, he was used to the action and the weirdness; it had become commonplace in his life.

It walked against the usually hustle and bustle, the dozens of people walking down the street. They were all dressed in rather bright clothes – The town itself was rather bright, upbeat and happy. He stuck out like a sore thumb in his darker, formal wear.

He exhaled twin streams of smokes from his nostrils, drawing several nasty glares from the people around him. He finally emerged from the crowd and he let the cigarette drop.

"Hmm…" He hummed to himself. He brought out his wallet and peered inside, "Might as well, I got nothin' better to do with my day."

Axel pocketed his wallet and started forward. He had a lot of time to waste – A quick stop for a couple packs of cigarettes, and then off to Celes. With a destination in mind, he set off. He didn't make it but a few steps before he bumped in to something: Something small he knew, because whatever it was reached just above his knee. The sound of glass breaking reached his ears a moment alter, and he looked down.

"Sorry about that…" Axel murmured, looking at the shattered bowl at his feet, the fragments of ceramic glass sitting in a puddle of broth and noodles. His brow furrowed – It had thoroughly soaked his shoes, and some had gotten on to his pants as well.

"Awww…*sob*," His eyes rose to the small child standing mere steps from him, looking down at the puddle while she shook with her sobs. He closed his eyes hearing the sniffling, "M – m – my Raaaaameeeen…" The Girl wailed. Axel kept an even expression even as he was glared at by a dozen or so people.

'_There goes my afternoon… Not exactly what I had in mind. Another time, Celes,' _He cleared his throat, "Two bowls of whatever the kid here ordered," Axel called to the stand owner. He happily obliged seeing the jewels Axel produced. That quieted her down easily enough.

"Thanks, Mister!" The girl exclaimed, perking up almost immediately. She tackled his leg and tightly wrapped her arms around it. Axel deadpanned. He raised his leg, but the girl had such an iron grip on it that she was lifted up with him and she wasn't slipping in the slightest. He wagged his leg a bit, but still she didn't budge, "Hey! What's your name? I wanna tell my momma how nice you are, and I wanna know your name!"

"Axel… Where are you parents, kid?" Axel asked, raising his leg a bit higher and leaning down a bit so that he could get a better look at her, as well as hear her better over the people.

"My momma said she'd be back in a minute or two!" She replied.

"Okay… What's your name?" Axel asked, wagging his leg a bit more. Still nothing…

"Devi Gremory!" She replied, absolutely beaming with a wide grin stretched across her face.

"Hey! Ramen's ready!" The stand owner called to them, "Come and get it!"

"Let's eat," Axel stated, hobbling over to the stand with a bubbly, cheering Devi still attached to his leg. She still wasn't letting go, and he was forced to raise his leg high enough so that he could sit on the stool. Then she decided to let go…

He plopped down. This certainly wasn't what he had planned, not by a long shot, but it was still a decent way to kill time nonetheless. He glanced over the young girl, who had already eagerly begun eating her meal. He looked down at the bowl in front of him, at his reflection in the golden broth. He broke his chopsticks apart and his eyes snapped up.

"Hmm?" Devi looked up from her bowl. He was just sitting there, staring blankly forward. The cook was rooted to the spot, "Hey, Mister? Are you okay?"

"…Fine," Axel replied after a moment of pause, "Eat. Before it gets cold," He told her. He started to eat a slower pace while she slurped up the noodles.

* * *

Axel kept his mouth shut. He was harshly slammed against the brick wall of the building behind him. Not a grunt, not a wince. He kept his wits about him, and kept calm. He had been minding his business, casually walking down the street. He took a turn in to an alleyway for a smoke break when he was suddenly grabbed by the throat, and he found himself with his back against a brick wall. He was stuck between a hard place and a very dangerous place, and he didn't like it.

"I'm not one for being choked… Any chance you can let me go and go away?" Axel asked. The woman merely growled and tightened her hold around his neck. He closed his eyes for a moment, "Okay then."

Axel brought his hands and held them up for her to see – they were empty. He slowly moved them to his pockets and her hand tightened around his neck. He didn't even flinch; He produced his cigarettes, "I just want to smoke… This is a high stress situation," Axel slowly stated. The woman didn't reply.

He slowly placed a cigarette between his lips, and snapped his fingers creating a small flame. He lit the end, closed his eyes and slowly inhaled. He exhaled from the corner of his mouth away from them both. Axel sighed, "I don't know who you are… I don't frankly care. If I wronged you in anyway… Or someone close to you," At that the hand around his throat tightened and he exhaled another twin streams of smoke from his nose, "I'm not apologizing. Just let me go, and I can forget that this ever happened."

"I don't frankly care if you do or not… I'm going to make you suffer regardless," She replied.

Axel locked eyes with her, and again exhaled smoke from his nostrils, "Let me go…" Smoke started to rise from underneath her hand. Patches of fire formed on his bare skin, "Or we're going to have a serious problem." His pointer and middle fingers of his right hand were engulfed by scarlet flames.

* * *

**May...**

"Hmm hmm… Dada da da… Hmm," May quietly hummed a tune to herself. She lay on her side, floating in the sky atop one of her clouds. She was snuggled up in her green jacket, with a light purple scarf wrapped around her neck as well, to keep her warm and cozy in the colder temperatures so high up. She laid there on her stomach; idly swinging her legs back and forth while she doodled in one of her many open notebooks.

The messenger bag she carried with her was open, the contents were spilled out: Compasses, notebooks, both new and some with some wear and tear, papers and pencils. The drawing before her was of a almost crudely drawn dragon with some dimension, with its head bowed and a little child standing before it with their hand on its nose.

"I always sucked at drawing real stuff… But you liked it anyway," She whispered with a smile. Setting her pencil down she raised her head looked out over the expanse of forest. From where she was, she could just see the nearest town. She smiled, "Not the kind of views you could get back in our mountains…" She murmured, "But it's still pretty cool."

May stretched her arms over head and yawned, "Ah… How long have I been up here for?" She asked herself, rubbing the tiredness from her eyes. It had been mid-day she knew – She had made sure to go up while the sun was high in the sky to knock some of the cold off. Now the sky had become a myriad of colors- Hues of purple, blue and orange. Her smile grew, "Awwww Well!~" She said while stretching, "I still have a few hours!"

She packed up her things and sat herself down in the center of her large cloud. It shrank down to a size just big enough for her to sit on and she slowly made her way to the ground. It wasn't long before her cloud touched down, "Time for a snack!" She sighed happily, hopping off and jogging toward the iron doors.

* * *

**Andrea...**

Andrea watched the Cloud Dragon Slayer from under the shade of a tree. She had just been out there, enjoying the peace and quiet that came with her day off. That's all she wanted.

Then her eyes drifted to the sky and she noticed the one cloud that seemed out of place. She figured out rather quickly – It was May. She always did that, even during jobs if the things she overheard May's teammates talked about were true. Always hanging out in the sky amongst the rest of the clouds…

The cloud shrank to a much smaller size than before and slowly descended to the ground. She had been talking to herself for a brief moment before she made her way inside the Guild hall. Andrea fidgeted a bit. She drew her knees to her chest and rested her chin between her knees, looking intently at her feet.

Should she?

"Mmm…" She quietly groaned. She looked up hearing the familiar creak as the iron doors opened and there was May with an armful of snacks, whistling an upbeat tune.

She had made up her mind. Andrea picked herself up and dusted off her pants before she made her way over to the Cloud Dragon Slayer, "… May!"

"Hm?" She looked up, a chocolate bar between her teeth, "What's up?"

"Would… Would you… Mm…" Andrea fidgeting in place, staring intently at her feet, "I…" She huffed. Why was this so difficult? It was a simple question, or a request at the very least. She steeled herself, and her expression hardened as well, "I'd like to go up there with you, in the sky, do you mind?"

"Not at all! I'd like the company actually!" She replied. She took a chunk out of the chocolate bar and let it fall on to the mass of snacks in her arms, "Expand!" She commanded, exhaling a couple white puffs. The two puffballs joined the smaller cloud and it started to grow to a larger size.

"Hope on!" May said, hoping up and plopping down on to the cloud. She bounced up and down, giggling all the while, "It's really soft."

Andrea climbed on without a word. She found it difficult to move around at first, _'I've crawled around on ice… Why is this so difficult?' _She thought. Stumbling a bit more, she huffed and plopped down on her back, sprawled out on the fluffy surface.

"Up we go," May said as they started to rise. Andrea kept her eyes glued to the sky, watching as they drew closer and closer to the clouds. She closed her eyes and let the cool air wash over her. She could feel the air beginning to thin out, and become cooler. It was nothing she wasn't accustomed too. _'If it were snowing... This would be really nice.' _

"Cloud level, we're here!~" May sang. She took another chunk out of her chocolate bar, "Mm... Want some?" She offered Andrea some of her snacks. The Ice Dragon Slayer didn't reply, instead she sat up and unzipped her jacket.

"You're really gonna take your jacket off up here?" May asked.

"I like the cold…" Andrea replied quietly. She neatly folded her jacket and set it beside her and then plopped down on her back, looking up at the sky, "Got a problem with that?" She asked, glancing May's way.

"None at all," May replied with a smile. She went back to doodling in her notebook, "You don't talk much, do ya?"

And it was gone, "No… I don't," Andrea replied bluntly, "You talk... A lot. A bit too much..." Andrea stated slowly.

"Eh?" May tilted her head in confusion, "Ah... I guess. I'm just tryin' to make small talk.. Or something?" She shrugged her shoulders, "I figured you wanted to talk."

"I like the cold... That's the only reason I asked to come up," Andrea replied dryly. They sat there in silence, letting the cool evening air wash over them. Andrea closed her eyes – This was truly relaxing. She turned her head to the side so that May wouldn't be able to see her, and she let herself smile.

"…What was your dragon like?" Andrea's eyes snapped open and she shot up. May was staring at her with genuine interest and she smiled, "What did they look like, ya know? What were they like? Mean, Awesome… Cool?" May snickered at her little joke – One Andrea had heard a hundred or so times in many different forms, "We're up here together… So let's get you talkin'!"

"I…" Andrea was speechless, "I'd… Rather not."

"I can start if you like…" May offered. Andrea didn't reply, "Her was Stratia and she was… Really amazing!" May let a out wistful sigh. She pulled herself to the edge of the cloud, and folded her arms under her chin, "Really sweet… She was kind of a hard-ass when it came to training, but I was a lazy kid, hehe. She had to be… She always took me up to the clouds, let me touch them. Yeah, they're just water and air, but when I really started to get the hang of my Slayer Magic, I could feel them – So soft and fluffy. The ultimate pillow! We'd just lie on a cloud for hours after training…"

They sat there for a moment in complete silence.

"That sounds… Nice," Andrea said.

"Yeah, it was," May replied, chuckling, "It's your turn now."

"I said I'd rather not," Andrea stated bluntly, looking away. May shrugged.

"It was worth a try," She said before going back to her notebooks. The two of them fell in to another silent moment. May busied herself with doodling in her notebooks and humming random tunes.

"Her name… My dragon, was Jadis," Andrea murmured, wrapping her arms around her knees as she drew them up to her chest. She tilted her head back to stare up at the sky. May turned on to her side facing Andrea in order to give the Ice Dragon Slayer her full attention. She could've sworn she saw the tiniest of smiles tug at her lips as she spoke, "She was…"

* * *

**Danny, Ada and Marcel...**

"Aaaaaand they're done!" Danny exclaimed. He whirled around with piping hot steel tray in hand. He shut the oven door with his foot and presented Ada and Marcel with a fresh batch of muffins. The girls' eyes lit up with joy seeing the sweet treats before them. Danny quickly set them down and lightly smacked their grabbing hands away, "Hold on!" He laughed, "They're still hot!"

Ada and Marcel pouted, "Please?" They begged in unison.

"In a second!" Danny laughed. They were unbelievable. Ada was older than him, for Magic's sake! He took off his oven mitts and went to putting the muffins on a silver platter he had lying around, "Okay!" He exclaimed, setting them down. Ada and Marcel were quick to grab one each, so quick in fact it took Danny a moment to realize two were missing.

He chuckled, _'Geez. The Repo Guys have their own Ada… Come to think of it, Sascha is just the same I think. Always running around…' _He thought, watching them enjoy the muffins. He took one for himself. They made idle chit chat for a while, with the girls complimenting his baking skills several times. He also made sure to make sure Marcel knew not to tell the other guys about his baking – He didn't want to have to hurt them.

Danny stopped in the midst of chewing when a question came to mind, "Hey, Marcel!" "What's it like? Being on the Repo Team?"

"What do you mean?" She asked, tilting her head.

"Well… Axel is a real blunt guy, not the nicest. Sai is creepy as all hell, and just as mean to boot. Zeno and Entei are nice enough, but they can both get pretty wild. And you're… _You. _It's gotta be tough being a team with them. Is it?" Danny asked. Ada leaned in a bit, finding herself curious as well…

She immediately started to shake her in the negative, "Nuh uh! They're all really great! Zeno is the nicest! He always looks out for me! And Entei is so cool! He's really fluffy too! Sai gives me advice about stuff, and if I ever get in trouble, Axel helps me out! They're all really great!"

Danny slowly nodded, "What kind of advice does Sai give you… Exactly?" He knew man well enough, and he had his suspicions.

"He told me that if I'm ever in a jam…" She suddenly stopped talking while looking down at her muffin. Danny reached forward and snapped his fingers a couple of times, making her jump, and in turn making Ada jumped, "Ah! You scared me!"

"You were just talking!" Danny replied, laughing slightly.

"…" Marcel tilted her head slightly, "I was?" She asked.

"… Yeah," Danny replied, "You were…" Had she really forgotten that quickly? Marcel finished off her first, and took another one and happily dug in.

"… What was I saying?" She asked suddenly. Ada started to giggle, and Danny was tempted to laugh, but she actually seemed serious.

"I asked you about Sai's advice, and -"

Marcel cut him off mid-sentence, "Oh! Yeah! He told me that if I was ever in trouble, like my illusion dropped suddenly that I should take my sword and 'Start cuttin' bitches! Stab'em! Lop off their – Mmf!' Danny placed his hand over her mouth to silence her.

"I know, Sai… Don't… Don't finish that sentence," He shook his head, and Marcel nodded, giving him a thumbs up. Danny took his hand away.

"Ah, I bet she can handle herself!" Ada said, patting Marcel on the back, "How good are ya with that sword? Any cooooool combo attacks with your teammates? Ooooh, awesome illusions?" Ada closed in with every word. They were nose to nose by the time she was done talking.

Marcel turned her head to focus on her muffin, "Nah…" She swallowed a mouthful, "I don't do a lot of fighting. I can't really wield my sword properly yet."

"Whaaaaaat?!" Ada shouted, "They never offered to train you or anything?" Marcel shook her head in the negative, "What a bunch of meanies! I oughta kick their – Oooo! Muffin!" Danny shoved one of the muffins in her face and she immediately changed gears, biting in to the sweet treat and quieting down.

"Ehehe…" Danny chuckle, "I'm sure… Some of them had good intentions at least."

He turned to Marcel, "But, I'll tell you what – On our days off, if you want that is, I can teach to really wield that sword of yours!" He offered. Her eyes lit up, "I mainly use my lightning magic, but I'm pretty damn good at wielding Dröhnen!"

"Really?" Danny nodded, "Thank you!" Marcel cheered, "That would be great!..." She took a large bite out of her muffin and happily chewed it up. When she swallowed, she opened her eyes and blinked several times, "Uhm… What were we talking about?"

Danny deadpanned.

Ada giggled to herself, "Awwww! You are so adorable, I can't stand it!" She exclaimed, throwing herself at the brunette. She wrapped her arms around Marcel and pressed her cheek to hers.

Danny shook his head, "Hehehe… Hey? How about we bake a cake this time?" The two of them focused on him, "I think I have the ingredients for one. Why not?" Their eyes immediately lit up.

"YEAH!" They cheered.

"All right! Let's do this!"

**-Minutes Later- **

"Eheheh… My apartment…" Danny murmured. His smile twitched at the right corner, "Uh…" He was speechless. He, Ada and Marcel stood side by side, covered from head to toe in the golden batter that was supposed to have been their cake. Danny thought they had gotten off easy, at least in comparison to his apartment. The kitchen was a mess – Batter, frosting, sprinkles, scorch marks from a small fire that he thankfully averted. It was a mess. It had spread from the kitchen in to his living area as well. That was one thing to hate about an open kitchen – No barrier against tidal waves of mess.

Marcel had accidentally hit him in the eyes with a bit of frosting – He never thought it would lead to such a messy chain reaction, "My apartment…" He chuckled, raking both of his hands through his hair, not caring about the sticky batter he was smearing his blond hair.

"Danny," Marcel squeaked, pushing her index fingertips together, "I'm really… _Really _sorry!" She looked up at the Lightning Mage with large, shimmering eyes. Danny only glanced down at her for a brief second, and he sighed.

"Ah… Uhmm…" He cleared his throat. This was actually rather difficult for him to say.

"Cut her some slack, Danny!" Ada said cheerily, slapping him on the back, "It _was _an accident!" She said, and Marcel nodded vigorously.

'_You wouldn't be saying that if it was your freaking apartment, Ada!' _Danny screamed in his mind. The kitchen alone would take him hours! He didn't want to think about the living room or any unlucky furniture…

His right eye twitched, and he quickly covered it, "The frosting… Still kind of stings," He quickly said, forcing a smile on to his face.

"I – I can help you clean!" Marcel quickly said, "I – Waagh!" She took a single step toward the kitchen and unfortunately her foot came down on a mix of batter and vanilla frosting. Her foot flew out from underneath her, and she stumbled back. She flailed her arms, hoping to grab on to something, or for someone to grab on to her, but it all happened too fast. Her elbow made contact with something though…

"Mmf!" Danny tensed up, bending over slightly. His face flushed red in a matter of seconds. Eyes wide and eyes slowly crossing, her just stood there.

Ada snickered, "Haha… Danny, what's with that face?" He didn't reply, "Danny?... Hahaha! C'mon, cut it out!" She gave him a light shove, but he didn't budge. She was actually forced to take a step back.

"Oooooh…." He groaned. His hands folded over his lap…

_Gasp!_

Marcel covered her mouth with both hands, watching Danny double over. She and Ada were completely silent – Ada watching with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. The Lightning Mage bit his bottom lip. He was still standing after such a hit, though on shaking legs. His eyes crossed, and his knees finally buckled, "Holy Magic… That hurt… Hehe," He wheezed, chuckling toward the end, "That… That really hurt… ***Cough***."

"D – Danny, I – Ah!" Marcel was freaking out. Ada went to the girl's side to comfort her, or at least keep her calm. Danny was red in the face, hands folded underneath him. None of them said anything for a few minutes, until Danny finally broke the silence with a loud exhale.

"I… will… See you both… At the guild hall," Danny said in between breaths, "Ugh…" He groaned. Closing his eyes he doubled over and pressed his head against cool tile of his kitchen.

"Aaaa – I – I – I – Mmf!" Ada was quickly pick up Marcel, bending the girl over her shoulder and carrying her out the door. Ada poked her head back in for a quick moment…

"See ya, Teammate!" She said sweetly, with a kind smile on her face.

"But - !"

Ada shut the door.

Danny let out a shuddering breath, "I… I feel bad for the other guys now…" He murmured. He would never say it out loud, not in the presence of anyone at least, but he genuinely felt sorry for Marcel's teammates. That girl could handle herself one way or another. He almost felt bad for her enemies as well.

"Oh god… ***Cough***" Danny coughed. He tried to raise his head, but his attempt was in vain. It came back down; unfortunately for him it was in a glob of batter.

* * *

**Baron...**

"You're getting better, young man."

"Playing against a skilled opponent like yourself, I would hope so…" Baron stated while he rubbed his chin in thought. His eyes darted from each Shogi piece to the next. Every piece that caught in his sight for the briefest second he looked at the next three or four moves he could make at that moment and the outcome of them. He felt a twinge of pain in his head and he sighed, "I…" He closed his eyes and flipped the King facedown, "Concede. No move would benefit me enough to make up for the sacrifice that would come with it."

"Mah," The older man across from him tapped his cane, "Such a pessimist sometimes… You think outside of the box, but at the same time you look at things through tunnel vision, hehehe," He let out a raspy chuckle. A coughing fit racked his body and lightly beat his closed fist against his chest.

"Trayem…" Baron reached for the man's shoulder, but he chuckled and waved him off.

"Ah, it's old age, my dear boy," Trayem replied. He produced a handkerchief seemingly from nowhere with a flick of his wrist and dabbed at his mouth, "Quite cruel it is…" He sighed. He offered Baron a reassuring smile, "But I'll be fine. I still have some fight in these old bones, and there are things I've still yet to do…"

Baron kept an even expression. He went to rearranging the board to start a new game, "Always so carefree…"

"Always so uptight," Trayem replied, sparing him a glance.

"There are medical professionals in town… I could ask my Guild Master for well-known names, and I have money. I could…" He winced, suddenly being struck on the head by the man's wooden cane, "Ah…"

"None of that," Trayem stated, "I've had my fun. Why live to such an old age just to become a boring shell? I'd rather die lively and fun! Hehehe!" He flashed Baron a wide grin and the Titan Mage shook his head. He placed his hand on one of his pawns and slid it forward in to the appropriate square.

"Another game, eh?" Trayem mused, "All right – I see the stubbornness is still strong within you."

"If I can't train my body with a job or a hunt, then I must train my mind," Baron replied, a tad quieter from before. He was busy focusing the board. Trayem's move seemed to move in slow motion while he mapped out every move. A sudden twinge of pain caused him to wince, "Mm…"

"Ah…" Trayem stopped, "You're wearing yourself ragged, ma boy!" Trayem stated. He set the piece down, "Let's take a break then! You rest your weary mind, and I can rest my weary body…" With a flourish he laid the handkerchief over the Shogi board, "Tea, perhaps? It's quite good if I say so myself," He pulled the embroidered cloth away and revealed a steel platter underneath with a steaming teapot, two cups and the works.

"I… No!" Baron vehemently objected, shaking his head to drive his point home, "I can't… I have to grow stronger, I can't just waste my time doing nothing. Lazing around…"

"Spending time with an old friend is wasting your time?" Baron averted his eyes. He could hear it – How hurt Trayem was by that, "And lazing around is all I do most of the time! I'm certainly not wasting what little time I have!"

"But…" Baron tried to object, but he could not think of a logical answer. At that, Trayem grinned from ear to ear, as if he had never said anything at all.

"Then it's decided, shut your mouth and relax for once, like the good ol' days!" Trayem exclaimed, his small frame being racked by another fit of coughs, "***Cough* **Damn these old lungs! ***Cough***"

Baron sighed, resigned to his defeat. He sat there, staring down the teapot in front of him. He started to wag his foot, pat his knee. His brow furrowed and he quietly hummed.

"Ah, gonna give me motion sickness, Baron," Trayem chuckled.

"Sorry…" He mumbled, "I'm not used to… Just sitting around I suppose."

"You said you were a part of some guild, right?" Trayem asked, and Baron nodded, "You work tirelessly, is that it? Taken no breaks and relaxing once in a while? Is that how it goes?"

Baron shook his head, "Well… No, not exactly. We take breaks. Sometimes we have to travel long distances and we stop for a while. Even then I'm reading… Training maybe… Scouting…" He shook his head as he listed off the various things he did in his 'free time' during jobs, "I don't really relax I suppose."

"Hmph…" Trayem hummed to himself, nodding silently. Baron continued to fidget and every now and again the older man would spare him a glance. The perfect idea came to mind. He started to tap his foot, and his cane, and Baron looked up, eyes opened wider than before.

_We dance like the black feathers!~ _

_That fall as we fly!~ _

_On the wind, we flutter, we soar!~~ _

_We go as high as the sky!~_

Trayem sang, swaying his body lightly to his tune.

_This big top! This cage!_

Baron cut in, singing softly…

_It is nothing. Watch us break free.~ _

_We are the Raven Troupe. _

_We go where we please. _

_On winds, we flutter, we fly.~ _

_We soar all through the sky…~ _

Baron softly sang at first, but at Trayem's silent urging he gathered his courage and sang with him, for all to hear! Together they sang…

"_Hold tightly now! For the ride of your life!~ _

_We stupefy! Death-defy! _

_Shock! And Amaze!~ _

_Forget you sadness! Your strife!~ _

_If only for today! Today in your life!~ _

_Watch the black feathers! _

_Watch us fly!~ _

_Watch us now, before we take to the sky!~"_

_We are the Raven Troupe! _

_We go where we please!~ _

_Away! We're off! _

_Until next time we meet! _

_Watch for the black feathers! _

_Those dancing feathers! _

_That fall as we fly!~ _

Their harmonious tune came to an end, and the crowd applauded them – The young and old that had gathered around while they sang. Trayem smiled from ear to ear and stood up. He tossed his cane in to the air and caught it before he took a bow.

"Thank you all! You're so very kind!" He exclaimed

"Ahahaha! ***Cough Cough* **Ahahah!" He burst in joyful laughter, "I haven't felt like this in years! I hum that tune all the time, but singing it alongside someone else makes me feel young again!" He was again racked by a fit of coughing, He beat his hand again his chest, and he cleared his throat, "And then this old body of mine reminds me that it is not so…" He sighed with a smile. He dabbed the forming tears at the corners of his eyes with a new handkerchief.

"I had almost forgotten that song…" Baron murmured, looking down at the tea in his hands. He inhaled deeply and set the tea cup down on the tray, "I'm sorry to be leaving so soon, but I have other things I must attend to."

Trayem nodded, "Not a problem, Baron. Hopefully I will see again soon."

"Of course," Baron turned to the older man and bowed lightly, "Thank you for your time," The moment he saw Trayem nodded, he turned on his heels and started forward. He couldn't sit around and reminisce – There was training to be done. Trayem was not wrong, he had overexerted himself mentally, but he could train physically and grow stronger. He had to. He could not be weak. He could not afford to stop, even for a day.

* * *

**Crowned Heir...**

"Yo!" Sai called to Axel as he approached the bar. The man leaned forward a bit and Axel stopped mid-step, "What this I hear 'bout explosion in town? Say it was a fiery! Big boom, sound like your mess," He said cheekily, sipping from his drink.

"And I hear you got in to it with the Knights. Starting a fight when they have an outpost in town?"

Sai just shrugged, "It not the first time, who cares?" He chuckled to himself, a sly smile on his face. Axel stopped in front of him, and his smile disappeared. He tilted his head in confusion, "Hey… What happen to your neck?" Sai pointed at his own neck. Axel tugged at his collar a bit, not that it did any good. His neck was marred by a dark red hand print. The fingertips were tipped by shallow, blackened holes in his neck, "Daaaamn… You like it real rough, eh?" Sai asked with a smirk.

"It was a scuffle… Some psycho chick," Axel grumbled, coughing a bit. His voice was a tad hoarse.

"Eh… Next time wear scarf. No one want to know 'bout you an' pervert life style," Sai said, taking his drink and downing the contents.

"I'm going to forget you said that," Axel replied dryly, taking a seat one over from his teammate. He tapped the bat counter a couple times to get the attention of the barmaid, "Usual…"

"Comin' up," She replied.

"…And that's checkmate," Baron stated, leaning back in his chair and folded his arms over his chest. He allowed himself a small smirk – Not only had he achieved victory, but he had done so in fewer moves than the time before. Danny sat across from him, scratching his head while he looked over the board.

"Geez… You really backed me in to a corner there, Baron," Danny stated with a sheepish smile, "Good game."

"Those are the only kind I play," Baron replied.

"Well…" Danny murmured with a deadpan expression. He leaned back in his chair, on the back two legs, "Any word on the "dream team" yet?" He asked.

"None," Baron said as he rearranged the board, "I'm sure Gilver would've let us know something."

"Job requests!" Gilver shouted as he exited his throne room kicking the doors open. He grinned widely, holding several papers over his head, "Just because none of you have a full team doesn't mean you get to slack off! I was lenient for a day, and who knows just how much missed out on? There's money out there to be gained and I don't plan on letting it go in to anyone else's pockets!"

"O-K! 'Bout time!" Sai exclaimed, chugging the contents of the glass in front of him.

"Some people owe some money to other people who are paying us to take that money from the indebted," Gilver stated, holding out the paper, "The usual stuff – Should be fun!" Sai snatched it away and Axel in turn took it from him as they and Marcel started for the doors.

"May! Baron!" He called to the Cloud Dragon Slayer and the Titan Mage, "Someone's looking for a special little item – Not much detail, but it pays well and jewels are jewels!" He handed the paper over to the Baron, "Get there and get it done."

"Right," Baron nodded sternly. May yawned and gave him a lazy salute before the two of them set off.

"Where's my Hunter Team? I've got some good info on a small treasure! And you know my motto! Any money is good money, as long as it goes in my pocket!" Without waiting for a reply he shoved the papers in to Danny's chest and started shooing the three of the to the guild doors.

"Off with you! Go! Make some money for the Guild! And more importantly, for me!" He exclaimed with a wicked grin. He saw the final three to the door and he shoved them outside. Danny whirled around and opened his mouth to speak but the doors shut.

"Well…" Danny sighed.

"I don't know what you expected…" Andrea stated dryly, "It's Gilver."

* * *

**Gilver...**

"Hell… Sometimes I really hate these idiots…" Gilver said, pinching the bridge of his nose, "The paperwork… The freakin' paperwork," He shook his head. He walked to the center of the Guild hall

"… No I'm not gonna kill'em… Shut up," He mumbled, running his hand over his face. He glanced up with one eye toward the sole barmaid keeping herself occupied with cleaning glasses. She was none the wiser…

He needed a drink.

* * *

**End. **

**After a couple of action packed chapters, I thought it best to slow down a tad – So here we have this chapter. Revealed some stuff about some characters I think, and I think it turned out all right. I suck with 'down time' chapters, that are not action-packed, so yeah. If it sucks, it sucks, I'm don't have high hopes.**

**A tiny bit of action, some comedy, all in all I think it got the job done.**

**I wanted to do it, even though it's probably terrible :) But if you guys liked it then Awesome!**

**Trayem's tune was a pain in the ass quite frankly – But I think it turned out all right, it's kind of fun to sing :D I could not find the right music for it. I thought something along the lines of 'This is Halloween' from The Nightmare Before Christmas, but more upbeat, but yeah…**

**3 Spots Open – Try and take one if you dare. Please dare – I don't want to make all these characters XD**

**After a long author's ending notes, I bid you all farewell for now.**


	8. A Day of Relaxation Sort of

**Hey there guys. This chapter is insanely short compared to the last one, but pretty much the same length as all the other chapters. The main reason for that is that, again, I suck at down time chapters and I just couldn't think of what to write – Their whole excursion in to town and having some fun! I couldn't…**

**A quick update on the Oc submissions!**

**2 Are currently in, so that's two spots open, including the Dragon Slayer spot. If you want it, you gotta impress me :) Check my profile for the form.**

* * *

"Finally…" Finn sighed. He hopped out of their ride faster than Sascha this time around. He stretched his arms over his head as far as they could go and he bent back, nearly going parallel with the ground, "We can relax!"

"Yaaaaay!~" Sascha cheered, hopping out of their ride and executing a few front flips, getting ahead of Finn when she finally stopped. She threw her hands in the air and cheered, bouncing around wildly, "A new town! This is gonna be awesome!" She exclaimed. She giggled madly, lost in her excitement. She took a single step forward, but did not disappear. She wasn't quick enough.

Drayden wrapped one of his arms around her torso from behind and lifted the speedy girl off of the ground. That didn't stop her from trying though. Sascha laughed and laughed, flailing her arms and legs in the direction of the town.

"I caught her…" Drayden stated, turning toward the others.

"Yeah, but for how long?" Finn murmured with a deadpan expression.

"You can't blame her," Zeno said with a light smile, "Between the drive to the arena and the drive here, we've spent almost four days cooped up in that damn thing. She gets to stretch her legs, we all do!" He leaned way back, popping his back several times and he twisted his upper body from side to side with his feet planted firmly on the ground, "Entei, Happy to be out and about again, pal?"

"_Ruff! Ruff!" _The black wolf performed a back-flip and landed it to show just how excited he was. Zeno raised his hand and Entei hopped up to give him a high-five with its paw.

Finn smirked, "All right, I'll give her that… I'll admit, it does feel good," He said, stretching his arms over his head. He laced his fingers behind his head in a smooth motion, and inspected the town before them. This was more like it – It was lively, chock full of people who were walking and enjoying themselves. It wasn't as big as Magnolia or Hargeon, but he inwardly admitted that it had its own charm. The people seemed to be enjoying themselves, and it was a normal, sunny day. Maybe they could find some excitement too?

"Dray! Set the girl down!" Finn stated, patting him on the back, "Let her have some fun, eh?"

Drayden stared at him, his miss-matched eyes slightly wide. He glanced toward the giggling Sascha and then set his sights on a smiling Finn, "Are… You sure?"

"'Course I am!" Finn laughed, "I'm in a good mood! Let her do what she wants!"

Drayden just shrugged his shoulders and he lowered Sascha on to the ground. The moment her feet touched the ground, the girl's eyes widened and her magic seal appeared beneath her feet, "SONIC!"

"… Uh oh," Drayden said. The two of them disappeared in the blink of an eye, leaving a thin trail of smoke in their wake. There was a split second of silence, and then a much large wave of smoke burst forth, washing over Finn, Zeno and Entei.

"_Aaaaauuuhh!" _With a mighty howl, Entei dispersed the cloud around them.

"You were talking like you were the leader again," Zeno stated, stopping beside Finn, "'I'm in a good mood'? What's that supposed to mean?" He asked.

"Simple," Finn replied, "If I were mad, I'd want that hyperactive knucklehead to shut up and calm down for once."

Zeno frowned for a moment, "Ah…" He shook his head and his frown turned upside down, "Forget it. I want to enjoy myself. I'll kick your ass later."

"Yeah, don't get your hopes up, Shorty," Finn replied, ruffling the young man's purple hair. He ran ahead, leaving Zeno and Entei behind. The two of them shared a look and nodded at the same time. They started at a sprint.

"_Ruff! Ruff!" _Entei barked.

"Yeah…" Zeno replied, "I smell it too! That's some good barbeque! Let's go!" They sped up, starting full bore toward the town.

* * *

The five of them were scattered across the town. Finn was on his own, exploring. He had found a store that sold magical weapons and items specifically made for members of Beast Hunter Guilds. Zeno and Entei were together, chowing down on barbeque. Sascha zipped around town with Drayden in tow. The Asteris Mage never really had time to let the hyper girl go, so he was pulled along for the ride.

She did stop for a few seconds now and again in order for him to get his bearings, catch his breath. They met up now and again, but then went their separate ways not too long after, splitting off in to different pairs.

* * *

Finn's fist collided with the face of a drunken man who had been heckling him. Several others rushed him and surrounded him. His angered cries and shouts could be heard quite clearly over the commotion. Zeno and Drayden joined the dray, all the while Sascha laughed at the exchange, clapping her hands and cheering them on.

"Rrrrraaa – AAAAGGGGH!" Finn sent them all flying in different directions with a burst of rage enhanced strength.

* * *

"Yaaaaaaay!~"

"Sascha! Come down!"

"Dammit, Sugar Rush! Get down!"

_"Ruff! Ruff!" _

Zeno, Finn, Drayden and Entei stood together at the front of the town hall at the front of the gathered crowd. Sascha had found a candy shop and gladly spent a fair chunk of the money she carried around with her. Zeno and Entei had lost track of the girl, even with their finely honed sense of smell. The four of them had split up to search for her, but none of them had had any luck. When they noticed dozens of people making their way toward the same place in town, they decided to go with the flow, and it had brought them there.

Sascha was on top of the town hall - A half eaten lollipop in one hand and a cotton candy in the other. She sang a happy tune while she walked from end to the other, putting one foot in front of the other. There was a extension at the front of the roof with a stand, fitted with a bell. She stopped there and swung around on the pole, drawing a mass of yells and gasps from the crowd. She was fine and started toward the other end of the roof again.

"Uh-Oh!" Sascha laughed. She flailed her arms as she wobbled back and forth. She finally slipped...

"SASCHA!" Zeno's body was surrounded by a golden aura, and Drayden's legs were in the midst of breaking down in to electricity, when Sascha disappeared. She reappeared in front of them and a strong breeze soon followed, washing over them. The four of them with the crowd at their backs watched the girl with slightly wide eyes, and Sascha waved.

"Hi!~"

They all face-faulted, and Sascha burst in to fit of giggles.

* * *

The five of them were gathered in a restaurant seated in a square booth next to the window – Drayden and Sascha on one side, and Finn and Zeno on the other. Entei was situated on the floor with a bowl of food and water for him. They laughed, they ate – Finn shared more stories of his time before joining Crowned Heir, fighting beasts of all shapes and sizes.

Zeno even contributed – Talking about his many battles alongside Entei. Sascha listened to them both with rapt attention, while Drayden remained quiet, nodding once in a while to show he was listening. Their plates stacked up higher and higher as the time passed. Drayden's stopped at one, while Zeno had his fill. Sascha was seemingly a bottomless pit – Finn went as far to silently turn it in to an eating competition.

Sascha just ate.

Finn lost.

* * *

"Where does the time go?" Zeno murmured, tilting his head back to look up at the evening sky. He smiled – He couldn't decide whether to be happy or sad about today. It had been both a vacation and a celebration – For last few days they had technically been at work, traveling and fighting, and they had gotten their chance to sit back and relax, kick their feet up and enjoy themselves. They had moved on to the next round of the competition, something Gilver was sure to reward them for once they got back and delivered the news. They were celebrating their victory in a way with a much needed vacation.

But where had the day gone? He had fun hanging out with Entei, and partly with the others as well. Sascha was a joy to be around, if a bit much. Always smiling and laughing. She even smiled through the bar fights Finn had started, kicking some butt all the while.

"Eh, maybe I'm bummed I didn't get to do everything…" Zeno shrugged, scratching the back of his head. Entei quietly barked and nudged his leg, and without looking he reached down to scratch behind the wolf's ear.

"Why are ya talkin' to yourself, huh?"

Zeno jumped slightly. His head snapped up and he shot Finn a light glare. Drayden and Sascha were nearby; Sascha was happily munching on both a shiskabob and a pink cotton candy, alternating between one and the other.

"Stop bein' a freakin' sad sack and get your ass up!" Finn said, grabbing Zeno's arm and pulling him on to his feet, "The day ain't over! Drayden found this inn with an outdoor hot spring we can relax at."

Drayden nodded, "It's a good price," He said, giving them a thumb's up.

"I'm gonna relax at the bathhouse!" Sascha exclaimed.

"Who's up for the hot spring then?" Finn suggested. Zeno nodded and Drayden kept his thumb up. Entei barked. The black furred wolf hopped up and down in excitement, "Yeah? You excited too?" Entei nodded vigorously, "We'll see you at the inn, Sascha. You remember where that is, right?"

"Yeeep!~" She sang, knocking on her own head, "Like a steel trap! No need to worry!~ See Ya!" And with that she was gone. A light breeze rustled their clothes.

"She's said that before," Drayden stated.

"And?" Finn asked.

Drayden found a rock on the ground very interesting at that point in time. Zeno and Finn shared a look.

* * *

"What?!"

"No pets allowed. No exceptions."

"He's not a _pet_, he's my friend!" Zeno replied, losing his cool for a moment and raising his voice. The woman behind the counter looked back at him with a blank expression. She took a toke from her slender smoking pipe and blew a ring of smoke out.

"An animal is still an animal," She said, "No _animals _in the Hot Spring then."

"I won't let him go in the water, how about that?" Zeno asked, trying to negotiate. The women shot him a light glare, and again exhaled a ring smoke in his face. Zeno waved his hands, and Entei barked angrily at the women. The Wolf jumped and set his front paws on top of the counter.

"That's it!" The women cried, "Shoo! Shoo! I'm not going to turn away paying customers, but I am turning away a free-loading, flea-bitten mutt!" She exclaimed, producing a broom with which she whacked both Zeno and Entei over the head. Zeno was thrown back in to Drayden, who caught him.

Entei was forced back on to the ground and the wolf let out a powerful bark that froze in the women in place with shock, and fear. The wolf was surrounded by a golden aura. He lowered his head and growled threateningly.

Zeno quickly grabbed the wolf by the scruff of his neck, and leaned down to whisper in his ear, "Forget it… She's not worth it. I'm fine, Entei. C'mon…" Entei calmed down considerably, but he still kept his glare dead set on the woman. Zeno turned to Finn and Drayden, "You guys get everything set up… I'm going to walk Entei out."

"You gonna join us?" Finn asked.

Zeno took a moment. He did nod, "Uhm… Yeah. I'll just be a couple of minutes."

Finn nodded to him and he and Drayden turned their backs on Zeno, getting the attention of the glaring Manager. The purple haired young man led his wolf outside and crouched down in front of him, "Do you think you can find Sascha? Can you find her scent?" He asked. The black wolf sniffed at the air briefly and then gave an assuring bark, "Good."

"Find her… And I guess hang with her. We'll meet up later, don't get in to any trouble, okay?" Entei nodded and Zeno raised fist, smiling. Entei pressed his paw against Zeno's fist. He barked once before turning and running off.

"Yo! Zeno! Enough of the sappy crap! Let's relax a bit, eh?" Finn called to him from the front of the inn.

Zeno stood up, a bit slouched over, "Uh… Yeah… Relax, right," He jogged toward the inn.

* * *

**Crowned Heir**

Gilver sat by himself, leaning over with his elbows on the bar counter. The barmaid stood nearby busying herself with cleaning some of the glasses and taking stock all the while he drank and drank. Every now and again she would glance up at the orange haired Guild Master. She watched him drink heavily, downing large glasses of drink within a few seconds. Her eyes went to the three empty bottles, and then back to him.

His cheeks weren't even flushed.

"Impressive…" She stated, with a small smirk.

"Go home," Gilver sighed a second later, much to her surprise, "I wanted silence…" He peered over his shoulder at her, frowning. The cold look in his eyes rooted her to the spot, "Not make idle chit chat. Go home. Come back tomorrow." He looked away and continued to drink.

"W – well, am… Am I still getting paid or what?"

"Not if you don't get out," Gilver replied. The girl practically vaulted over the counter the moment he finished speaking. She dashed down the long hallway toward the entrance to the Guild hall and soon enough the telltale slam of the iron doors told him that he was alone. He sighed…

He drank straight from the bottle while he looked up at the ceiling.

"… Shut up," He sighed, "You're being fed booze… I don't feel like spilling blood, for any of you," He leaned his head back and looked up toward the mass of crystals giving off light, "No mayhem… No killing… No nothin' today. I'm tired… Quite frankly, I'm in charge too… If you ever want to see battle again, then you'll all shut the hell up," His grip tightened on the glass in his hand so much so that it shattered. He lowered his head and brought his hand up to see.

Several shards of glass, mostly small ones, had cut through his skin and red was staining the bandages around his forearm

"Yo! Talkin' to yourself there, Gil?"

He opened his eyes, looking over the top of the glass and there was one smiling face he wasn't exactly sure if he was happy to see or not.

He brought his glass away from his lips, "Estoc," He greeted dryly. Estoc Herald, an informant and a new member of the Magic Council. He still had plenty of pull despite his new position, and his name carried plenty of clout outside of the council chambers. He was a man in his early fifties, with almost leathery, tanned skin. His salt and pepper hair was slicked back and he was dressed rather fancily in a grey and black suit.

Gilver closed his eyes and drank, throwing his head back. He downed the glass quickly and this drew a chuckle from Estoc. Gilver set the glass down and said, "Unless there's something you _really _wanted to tell me – The door is behind you. Whether or not it hits you on the way out is up to you."

"Heh," Estoc wasn't fazed by the harsh words, "What crawled up your ass? Get dumped? Money troubles…" Gilver deadpanned and Estoc chuckled more, "Right, right, that was a joke…" He closed the distance between them and Estoc seated himself at the bar on a stool one to Gilver's right.

He grabbed the bottle Gilver had been drinking from and grabbed himself a glass from behind the counter. He poured himself a glass all while Gilver watched his every move, "That stuff ain't cheap…" Gilver said dryly.

"And yet it looks like you've been drinking it like there's a damn waterfall of the stuff in your back yard," Estoc replied, flicking one of the three empty bottles of the same brand.

"It's my favorite then," Gilver replied, taking the bottle and setting out of Estoc's reach.

"Cheap bastard," Estoc chuckled. He sipped from it and held the glass up at eye level, "Seriously though, what has you in such a hostile mood, huh? I know for a fact that no one owes you money. You don't date – period, so there's no way you were dumped. You hate animals of all kinds, so none of them died. This place reeks of money… I'm honestly stumped," Estoc said, keeping his calm smile.

"I have my reasons – Nothing I'm going to confide in you about," Gilver bit out, drinking a bit more.

"I understand… Did you have a falling out with your imaginary friends or something," A smirk tugged at Estoc's lips, "I'm fairly sure heard _'any of you' _which certainly gives off the impression 'more than one', am I wrong?" Estoc's head was tipped upwards. He kept smirking, his eyes remained closed. He peeked one open then and peered over at Gilver, "Did I say something wrong? Strike a nerve there, good buddy?"

Gilver had his sheathed nodachi with him, holding it horizontally with his hand wrapped around it just under the guard. He tapped it against the underside of Estoc's chin and a small stream of blood wrapped around the sheathed dripped on to his pants leg.

"You might have… You just might have," Gilver replied.

"Hmph," Estoc drank casually from his glass as if his life weren't being threatened and he filled the glass with another bottle of booze he snagged from behind the counter, "Okay, okay, I won't pry."

"… Don't be insulted if I don't believe you… But I don't believe you, so the sword stays," Gilver said, "Now… Is there a reason you're here or do I have to kick you out?"

"You wound me, Gilver, you really do," Estoc replied, reeling back in an overdramatic fashion, one hand of his heart. He poked at his own chest, where his heart his heart, "Right there… You wound me right there! Can't I visit a friend without being the 'informant' for once? And I _am _a guest… Albeit, unwanted, but still – Give me the courtesy of leaving on my own."

"You're annoying me," Gilver said with a slight edge to his tone.

"Your team passed," Estoc replied. Gilver stopped drinking for a moment and gave the man his attention, "Yep. Beat the Mantimera, from what Freddy told me. That one… The Archer with the temper…" Estoc started to snap his fingers while he looked off in to space, "Ah! Finn! Finn Arseland or something like that! He actually ordered the beastie around! Made it open its wings! I gotta say, I'm quite impressed!"

Estoc set his drink down to give Gilver a short round of almost mocking applause, "I certainly wasn't expecting him though. How long has he been around? Three… Four months?"

"Three… Almost four," Gilver huffed and downed another glass. He burped lightly and cringed – It was crisp going down, but it did have a horrible taste coming back up.

"Is that all?" Gilver asked, lowering his sword. He chuckled, "I knew they would win. This isn't news, dumbass – I knew this from the get go!"

Estoc shook his head, "Still the same cocky bastard… As well as greedy," He drank from his own glass. The atmosphere of the Guild hub dimmed. Estoc's smile faded, and a more serious expression took its place, "You know… Sacred Gear made it too. It's not all that surprising, being the defending Champions and all, but I figured you should know. Forbas is a member of the competing team this year."

"Sacred Gear… Just as planned," Gilver sighed, shrugging his shoulders.

"You… _planned _on them making it through?" Estoc asked, "Care to share?"

"They're strong… They're the defending champions, like you said," Gilver replied, taking a moment's pause to down his glass and set it down, "It was almost a guarantee that they would make it through to the next round. I planned on that happening – Everything is going as I planned."

Estoc chuckled, "Hey, mind telling me what kind of revenge you have planned? I'm not sure how much good it'll do, this plan of yours, but I'd like to hear it for myself."

"Nope. I…" Gilver stopped. He slowly turned his head to stare at his informant. His cold stare bore in to the side of Estoc's head and he casually turned to look at him, unfazed and he asked, "What's up?"

"What the hell did you say?" Gilver asked with a dangerous edge to his tone. He pressed the sword harder against the underside of Estoc's chin and tilted the man's head back until he was nearly looking at the ceiling, "What was that you were implying? Are you calling my team _weak_, even after all of that praise before?"

Estoc placed his head on the sheathed blade and pushed down on to the bar counter, "No," He said, in a more serious manner, "I didn't mean it like that. I said what I said because there's another team out there… And dammit, Gilver, if these four aren't a powerful bunch…" He shook his head, "I can honestly say that I wouldn't want to run in to them in a dark alley, Gilver. _Me_."

Gilver gave them a scrutinizing stare. They locked eyes for a moment…

"How strong?"

"Strong," Estoc replied, "Scared Gear's members this year are no pushovers by any means, Hell, the whole Guild is fairly strong. I won't lie. _But_, in my opinion, if they were the ones to go up against Sacred Gear at any time, in or outside of the competition…" He chuckled a bit before he said, "Well, the winner was decided the moment fate decided to have them scuffle. And by that, Fate didn't have time to think of a winner."

"…My team can take them," Gilver stated bluntly and Estoc shook his head.

"Gilver, you haven't seen what their Dragon Slayer can d0, not only that -"

"Their team, their entire _Guild _could be made of Dragon Slayers and Crowned Heir would still be victorious," He said with a smirk, "That's not exaggeration… It's not my pride… It's cold, hard facts."

Estoc sighed and he let a short chuckle, "If you say so…" The two of them filled their glasses and downed them at the same time.

"So," Gilver started. He paused to drain the contents of his next glass of booze and he set it down upside down on the napkin in front of him, "What's this team's name?"

"Greedy Ghoul," Estoc replied, "They've been a Guild for a little over a year now. Not exactly official in the eyes of the Magic Council, but then again what Treasure Hunter Guild is?" Estoc said with a lighthearted chuckle. It turned in to a sigh and he downed another glass, "They're quite the nasty bunch, Gilver, let me tell you… Wanna know how many casualties they have under their belt?" He seemed almost sad asking.

* * *

**Greedy Ghoul… Hmm. Now to some of you, that might sound familiar. Thanks again to those who submitted a character. They were very much appreciated. **

**Another not so action packed chapter, but I still felt I got some stuff out there. Things will be happening next chapter, I assure you. Many things.**

**Before I forget again, I want everyone to answer who has a character in the story to answer this – Do I have your permission to seriously injure your character? Do I have your permission to kill them off if I so choose? You can answer in your review if you leave one, otherwise I will contact you via PM.**

**Until next chapter. **


	9. Relaxation Denied

**I'm baaaack. Hi everyone.**

**I promised many things would be happening this chapter, and I feel like I made good on the promise :) **

**This is the last chance for anyone who wants to submit characters for Greedy Ghoul to do it. Once the next chapter goes up things will be cemented and no more submissions until the next and final batch.**

* * *

"You have not known danger until you've tangled with a Terran Vulcan!" Finn exclaimed with a grin on his face, "They have fragments of armor as strong as stone where a Blizzard or Forest Vulcan's furless spots would be. Poisonous fangs and strong as can be! I had to fight _two _at once then too!"

"Yeah, yeah," Zeno murmured, shaking his head, "Ever fight a Wyvern? They're pretty tough…"

"Tch, don't I know," Finn replied, rolling his eyes, "I remember back when I was climbing this… This mountain, Mount… Mount Braus? I think that was it, anyway!" Finn quickly corrected himself, finding himself branching off from his initial story, "I had to climb this mountain in search of a Wyvern specifically. A blacksmith in town needed the scales of this one specific Wyvern, and this beastie was massive! I'm telling you! Larger than any normal, run-of-the-mill Wyvern…" Zeno started to tune him out, but kept watching him, nodding occasionally to make it seem like he was listening. He was just moving his lips and no sound came out…

Finn leaned back against the stones lining the hot spring and sighed, "It was quite the fight… But I won in the end!" He exclaimed, pumping his fist in to the air.

"…Huh? Oh… Impressive, yeah," Zeno stated dryly, applauding him, "Don't you think so, Drayden?"

Drayden silently nodded.

"Damn straight," Finn said with a smirk on his face, "You got anything to contribute, Dray? Or you gonna keep up the silent treatment?" He asked, turning his attention to their heterochromic teammate. He had distanced himself a bit further away on the side opposite of Zeno. Even now, with his usual face mask, he wore a doctor's mask to cover the bottom half of his face.

He averted his eyes and silently shrugged.

"Nothin'? Nothin' at all?" Finn asked.

Drayden shook his head.

"Tch…" He shook his head as well Finn did, but more in annoyance, "You really don't talk that much do ya?"

Drayden again shook his head.

"Ever show your face?" He asked, pointing to his face in relation to Drayden's. The Asteris Mage adjusted the face mask around his mouth and shook his head.

"Plan on answering me with words any time soon?" Finn asked, his right eye slightly twitching.

Drayden shrugged his shoulders.

"Want to talk about that ink on your arm?" Finn asked, pointing to the tattoo that went up the length of Drayden's right arm from his wrist to his shoulder. It was of a detailed phoenix surrounded by fire. Drayden glanced down at his tattoo.

"I… Like it," He said.

"Who did it? Wanna give us a name?" Finn prodded for more information, "I was thinking of getting a bear paw on the right side of my chest. Tribal, but I still want it to look good."

Drayden shrugged, and his teammates sweatdropped.

"Uuugggh!..." The Archer Mage titled his head back while he loudly groaned in frustration. He looked up at the sky, and ran a hand back through his hair, slicking it back, "And my team says I'm bad with people… You've got the social skills of a goldfish! Weirdo…"

Drayden looked away and submerged himself a bit deeper in to the water.

"Insulting someone's social skills when you outright insult them? Irony at its finest if I say so myself," Zeno murmured, rubbing his neck and then working his shoulder. His eyes zipped around the hot spring, empty except for them, and then he turned his attention back to Finn who was giving a slight glare, "What?"

"No one asked you to say anything, pipsqueak!" He snapped. Zeno's brow furrowed and he glared back, "You're just as bad right now! All twitchy and shit! What? Scared for doggy out an' about in the big, bad world without you?" He mocked and Zeno's hair bristled, "Or maybe you're scared without him? Eh?"

"Shut up!" Zeno snapped, his cheeks reddening.

"That all you got to say?" Finn asked, "Ha! I nailed it right on the head! What a wuss! Hahah!" Finn burst in to a fit of laughter. The purple haired youth reddened further and when enough was enough, he stood up from the water.

"Cosmic Heavy Star!" He announced, a ball of purple energy with a silver core forming in his right hand as he twisted back. Before Finn could react he threw it and the ball collided with his face, and a second alter it exploded. The force of the blast sent the Archer Mage flying out of the water and rolling across the stone floor around their hot spring.

"Ah! … Ow! That hurt you little prick!" Finn shouted, sitting up first and rubbing the large red spot on his cheek.

"You deserved it," Zeno replied bluntly, sitting back down. Finn grumbled under his breath. If he had his bow then there definitely would've been some retaliation, but it was back at the hotel, much to his chagrin. And, above all else, he was trying to relax a little.

The three of them grew silent after a short time, basking in the warmth of the water and a moment of peace. As much as they loved battle and doing jobs, a break between fights was just what they all needed once in a while – Everyone at the Guild did. The sound of the sliding door caught their attention – Finn opened a single eye, and Drayden and Zeno kept their eyes half-lidded, all of them watching as two others entered the water.

Even through the thick curtain of steam they could see an almost frightening difference in the physical size of the two. One of them was of a more normal height, lean, with head of incredibly spike hair. That was as much as either of them could see. The second man on the other hand…

He stood taller than not only his slender companion, but they knew this giant of a man would eclipse them all at a close range. Incredibly broad shoulders and arms almost as long as his body, all supported but rather short legs.

The two of them lowered themselves in to the water and the five of them sat there in silence. The Crowned Heir mages glanced toward one another and they nodded. They closed their eyes, opting to relax instead of worrying about some unexpected guests – Hell, this was a hotel after all. Maybe they were legitimate guests.

"Huh…" One of the made a noise, "Not exactly what I expected." Finn noticed a small, dark flicker near the slender man's face. It was only there for a brief moment. He could see the glowing end of a lit cigarette through the steam.

Zeno's nose twitched. Whatever he was smoking, it was worse than Danny and Axel's brands, "Hey, mind putting that out?" Zeno asked, trying to be nice, "I've got… A sensitive nose, all right? I can smell that from here, even over the steam."

The scent grew worse for a brief second, _'Must've exhaled… Jackass…' _He thought.

"…What was that you were sayin' before?" Finn asked after a moment of silence, "What were you expectin'?"

"Hmm… Oh yeah! I thought it was obvious though…" He stopped talking for a moment, "I expected you Crowned Heir guys to look… More intimidating. Tougher. I wasn't expecting a bunch of brats."

Three glares were leveled on the man.

"Patch, let's clear the air with our friends here," The shorter man stated. A low grunt reached their ears seconds before the larger man rose up. He lifted his arms; his hands still partially submerged in the water, and held them out wide. The man swung and clapped his hands together, creating a boom like thunder. The resulting shockwave cleared the male side of the hot spring of the steam the hot water produced, and they were revealed to the Crowned Heir team.

The slender man was pale. They equated the style of his dark brown hair to that of a broom – Incredibly spiky. It was held in place by a red bandana around his forehead with a few stray hairs wilting over it.

Their attention was drawn to the second man and their eyes widened. In stark contrast to his companion, his skin was darkly tanned. His skin was stretched taunt incredible amounts of muscle, they were sure it would rip across his chest or arms if he so much as inhaled too much or flexed for a split second. His dark green hair was cut in a bowl shape with a braided ponytail hanging down on the left side of his head.

Even still, his gigantic size and musculature were not his most defining features. He was covered in stitches – His arms each had three circles of stitches around them in the same spots. His chest was covered in patchwork stitching; some patches of his skin were somewhat different shades from the rest of him…

'_Fuck! He's a monster if I've seen one…' _Finn thought. Of all the times he could've done it, why had he chosen now to leave his bow behind? Oh yeah… He didn't expect to be fighting Frankenstein!

'_I've got a bad feeling…' _Zeno thought, his eyes narrowing.

"No hard feelings about my comments, eh?" The slender man asked them, "As a show of good faith. I'm Cain Kraz and the big guy here is Patch Gastra."

After a moment of silence, none of them moving a muscle, Zeno nodded, "Zeno Turner…"

"Finn Arland."

"Drayden Kresczech."

Cain lifted his arms, "Hey! There, see? Now we're all good pals!" He exclaimed, a grin stretching across his face, "Now… As honorary pals… I do hope you'll forgive me for this," Before any of them could reply, with his right arm outstretched and finger's raised as if his hand were a gun, a black stream of flames shot out from his index finger and blasted through the wall behind Finn.

"WHOA!" Finn jumped to the side despite the shot already having passed.

Dray burst up and electricity sparked around his hands.

"Dray! We're in the water!" Zeno shouted.

"Uh..!" The electric sparks dispersed immediately and a smirk crossed the slender man's face.

"Get'em, Patch," Cain stated. Said man stood up on his short legs and drew back his large fist at a great speed for a man his size. He thrust his arm forward and the stitches tore at the upper arm and the rest of his arm shot out connected to a thick cord. The next line of stitches tore at the middle of his forearm and his fist closed the distance quickly. It slammed in to Drayden with incredible force, sending him crashing through the wood dividing wall in to the outside world.

"DRAY!" Zeno shouted, his head whipping around only to stare at the wood wall at their backs.

Path retracted his arm and the purple haired young man shot forward just as the segments were set in place again. His body was surrounded by a golden aura.

"Cosmic Body! – Hrrgh!" Zeno was stopped cold by Patch's large fist. He had to use both hands to stop it from slamming in to him and still he was pushed to where he started, "Shit!... I can't -!" Patch retracted his arm without warning and let Zeno stumble forward.

"Bullet Magic!" Finn growled, outstretching his arm and his pointer finger, his thumb pointing up. A ball of purple magical energy formed around the tip of his finger.

Cain smirked. He took his cigarette from between his lips and flicked it toward, "I don't think so…" He stated, exhaling a thin stream of smoke. Finn tensed up, preparing to fire. Zeno's eyes snapped to the cigarette falling toward the water. Around the still burning end, the purple sparks caught his eye, as well as the small black flame that ignited.

"MOVE!" Zeno screamed, stopping his attack and lunging at his teammate.

"Wah?" Finn was tackled by Zeno and the two of them flew through the air and crashed through the wooden dividing wall in to the women's half of the hot spring. Not a moment later did an explosion engulf the male side – Black fire burst upward in to the sky and destroyed the surrounding walls. Burning pieces of debris showered the women's side.

"AAAAAAAHHH!"

* * *

"Hmm hmm!~ Dada da!~ Hmmm – Yeah!" Sascha quietly sang to herself while she worked the shampoo in to her hair. Entei barked as softly as he could so that he would not be caught by someone working at the bathhouse and Sascha scratched the wolf under his chin.

"You needed this too, huh boy?" Entei padded in front of her and sat down with his back to her, "Yeah, you were kinda smelly!" The wolf let out an almost indignant huff and Sascha giggled.

"Oh don't mind him!" Sascha exclaimed, "Entei doesn't like strangers that much!" She added, ruffling the fur on top of the Wolf's head.

A velvety chuckle slipped past her lips, "No worries then. Animals are animals; they don't know any better…" Entei glared up at the woman, hidden by the steam filling the room, "I'm Lair, by the way. Lair Aeger."

"Sascha Bren!" Sascha exclaimed, "Nice to meet ya!"

"Likewise…" Sascha looked back curiously feeling a hand on her shoulder, "Oh, sorry about that. You skin looked so smooth, I honestly couldn't help myself, hehe."

She smiled brightly, "Not a problem!"

"Soft too… Hmm, mind if I wash your back? It's just us here and I could use some help myself. What do you say?"

Sascha nodded, "Sure thing!~"

Entei sat down and eyed the woman as she walked off to grab a stool to sit on.

* * *

"***GASP*" **Finn and Zeno burst up from the water, gasping for air.

"Holy… Shit… Too close!" Finn said in between pants. The two of them looked back to see the thick smoke pouring climbing higher and higher in to the sky, the black fire that filled the hot spring dying down and disappearing below the line of stones around the pool. Finn looked around and his shoulders slumped – The blast had scared off the girls on the women's side.

"I'm going to check on, Drayden," Zeno told him, "See if you can find anything. Something to track them with maybe?" With that a golden aura surrounded both of his hands and he clapped them together, blowing away most of the thick smoke in the male side of the hot spring. He jumped out of the hot spring and ran in to the streets.

Finn wanted to tell the pipsqueak off for bossing him around, but he wanted to find those bastards just as badly. That side won out. He sniffed at the air and cringed – Nothing but the smell of thick smoke and whatever nasty cigarette brand that guy was huffing on. He took a step forward and hissed, "AH! Son of a – Damn, that burns!" He cringed, gingerly setting the pained foot down on the stone.

He waved his arms to clear some of the smoke still lingering, when something caught his eye…

"What the hell?" Finn murmured. His eyes widened immensely. He waved his arms several times and as the heavy mist cleared, it was revealed that the water in the male's hot spring had been completely evaporated! Zeno waved both of his arms now, trying his best to disperse it all. "What the hell is this?"

_**3 on 4, and you did piss pour. Tsk, tsk, tsk.  
**_

_**Hope you didn't mind gettin' your crowns dirty. **_

_**Good Luck in the Games – Greedy Ghoul**_

These words had been burned in to the stone floor of the hot spring. Below it was a symbol, one he was not familiar with – A demonic, smiling face holding a diamond over its head with its clawed hands.

'_Greedy Ghoul? Is… It has to be. It's a Guild. The big guy had this symbol on his chest, and the slimmer guy had the same one on his right cheek. They must be a competing team… Attacking us out of the blue like that!' _Finn's hands balled in to fists at his sides, _'When I find those guy,s I'll put an arrow between their eyes! Before that I'll take a Beast Killer to their junks… Attacking us like that - Aaagghh!"_

He bared his teeth and growled in frustration.

"Finn! Finn!" The Archer mage was shocked from his inner rage and peered over his shoulder at Zeno, who was standing in the hole Drayden had made, "Don't just stand there, Drayden's hurt!"

"So? Do something about it!" Finn replied.

"Uh… I…" Zeno was at a loss for words, "Aagh – Get our clothes, jackass! And hurry!"

* * *

Finn haphazardly pulled on his shirt while his shorts loosely flailed on his hips. He had a mass of bundled clothes underneath his right arm. He called to Zeno who was kneeling next to Drayden who was lying on his side. Without a word he threw the bundle on to the ground and Zeno grabbed Drayden's sleeveless trench coat and draped it over him for the time being.

"Well? Get him up! We can still catch those bastards!" Finn snapped, shaking Zeno by his shoulder, "We can't let them just attack us like that and get away with it."

"He's hurt!" Zeno snapped back, "Dray… You still with us?"

"Uggh…" He groaned in response.

"Tell me what hurts…" Zeno said.

"Ribs… Ugh, right arm…" Drayden croaked, still out of it. Zeno grabbed Drayden's right arm without hesitation and the Asteris Mage stiffed. He cried out in pain and started to writhe, but Zeno stopped him.

"Definitely broken…" He murmured. He brought the coat down so that he could see Drayden's torso and he applied pressure to the ribs in different spots. He watched how Drayden reacted, "Bruised… Maybe a broken on… That's not good at all."

"Ah, he can fight!" Finn exclaimed, "C'mon, help me get him up!" He said, just before grabbing Drayden's right arm.

"AAGH!"

Zeno tore Finn's hand away, unfortunately causing Drayden more pain, and shoved the Archer Mage away, "I just said that his arm was broken, you fool!" Zeno barked, standing up so that he was almost on Finn's level, "That didn't do him any favors either!"

"I'll be all right…" Drayden said through the pain. He slowly, shakily sat up while he cradled his right arm. In a sitting position, he was practically doubled over holding his arm, "I'll live…"

"Here are your clothes, Drayden," Zeno said, passing him the rest of his clothes, which he murmured a thanks for, "I wonder if there are more of those guys hanging around?"

"One of them left a message burned in to the hot spring," Finn stated, and both of his teammates focused on him. He just shrugged, "It said 'three on four, and you did piss pour', Eh, figured it was nothing. N – Whoa!" Zeno pulled him down to eye level with the purple haired mage by the front of his shirt.

"How does something like _that_ sound like nothing?!" Zeno snapped, "_Three? _There's one still out there!"

"…Sascha!" Drayden realized.

"Entei..." Zeno murmured. He snapped back to reality from his musings and glared daggers at Finn, "What were you fucking thinking?!"

"I just figured the guy had shitty math skills," Finn replied, wrenching the Cosmic Mage's hand off of him. Zeno just huffed and sped off, "Hey! Where are you going?" He yelled after him.

"Sascha might be in trouble! Get dressed!" Zeno called back over his shoulder. Finn fell silent when a bolt of blue lightning shot past and arced in to the sky in the same direction Zeno was heading in.

* * *

"_RUFF!" _

Entei leaped in to action, sharp teeth bared. He ran full tilt toward the woman. A golden aura surrounded his body and then he lunged at her, opening his mouth wide. A loud crack filled the air and the wolf whimpered as he was knocked back.

"Hmph… what a pathetic little creature," Lair commented, a wry smile tugging at her lips. In one hand she held a rather long whip, and with her other arm she held a struggling Sascha in a chokehold.

"_Ruff! Ruff!" _Entei lunged at her once more and she lashed out with her whip. She feigned an attack on the wolf, bringing her whip back at the last second, but that was enough to stop Entei in his tracks. His paws touched down on the slick floor and slid sideways for a moment. In that moment, Lair capitalized.

She cracked the whip and wrapped most of it around Entei's body and then whipped the wolf in to the air. He spun as the whip unraveled and Lair harshly slammed Entei in to the floor. The wolf let out a loud yelp as it hit the floor with enough force to bounce up, enough force to crack the tile.

"Entei!" Sascha cried. Lair tightened her hold on her neck, constricting her airway further, "Nnngh!"

"I'm nothing if not a fair woman," Lair stated, "I'll give you a chance to escape – Now!" She suddenly released Sascha and the girl stumble forward. That was all she needed. Her feet touched a solid surface and that was what she needed. In her mind she prepared herself to use Sonic, and then it occurred to her…

'_The floor is slick!' _She audibly gasped and stumbled.

Lair laughed and cracked her whip, "Not taking it? Fine by me!" Using her whip, she wrapped the end around Sascha's neck and pulled the girl back toward her. She caught Sascha and unraveled the whip before wrapping a thick portion around her neck and tugging on it from two ends.

"Ack! – Hrrgh! Ahh!" Sascha clawed at the whip, eyes wide and brimming with tears. Her feet slid this way and that, trying to steady herself, but the floor was too slick. Lair had found her footing and made her lose hers in the process.

"Poor poor girl… Let me put your out of your misery," Lair cooed with a sneer. She pulled both ends, and lifted Sascha off of her feet. She kicked wildly. A couple of times her flailing legs struck Lair, but her grip didn't loosen in the slightest. She gasped for air. She tried to scream, but her attempts were in vain. Her vision started to tunnel…

"SASCHA!"

The whip unraveled and Sascha dropped to her knees. Her hands shot up and gently caressed the red ring around her throat. Looking over her shoulder, Lair was gone. Her eyes widened. She hadn't heard anyone move…

"Sascha!" Drayden was the first to arrive, followed shortly by Zeno and Finn. He draped his trench coat over her naked body and she pulled it tight around her.

"Are you okay? What happened?" Zeno questioned her.

Sascha wordlessly threw her arms around Drayden. The Asteris Mage stiffened, biting back a grunt – She had bumped his injured arm in the process. He kept his cool and patted her back. They had been through a lot in the past few minutes.

"Entei!" Zeno ran to his side, "Entei? Entei! Buddy, c'mon, wake up!" He lightly shook the wolf, and he did come to, if only a for a moment.

"Geez…" Finn murmured, looking around, "What the hell just happened?"

* * *

Zeno sat in one corner of the room with Entei, who had regained consciousness, but was still sore and dreary from what had happened. He gently patted the wolf's back, running his fingers through his fur, "You okay, Entei?" He asked.

The wolf merely nodded, pushing in to his hand a bit, "Yeah… Good to know," Zeno whispered. He frowned. The wolf's ears perked up a bit and he turned his head to stare in to Zeno's eyes, "I'm… Fine. I know that look. I'm fine, I swear."

Entei huffed and relented.

Drayden sat by Sascha's side, legs crossed and one hand on his knee while his other arm was in a temporary sling. He was waiting patiently, the extent of what he could do in his current condition. Occasionally he glanced down at the bundle of blankets, the head of brown hair just visible under the lip of the covers. She moved now and again, shifting, probably to get comfortable. It was an odd thing, not having her jumping around and smiling…

Finn stood by leaning near the door to the room, fingers laced behind his head. His eyes roamed over his three teammates, "So… Are we going to hunt those three down or…?"

"It's best we stay here," Zeno replied, "More than half of our team are in bad ways, so going out and looking for a fight would be suicide."

"We'll take shifts then, watching throughout the night," Finn said with the conviction of a leader. He stood up and stretched as if he readying himself for a fight, "If they come looking for us, then we're gonna fight back. They won't get the drop on us this time."

"Slight problem," Zeno said. Finn shot him a glare, but the purple haired boy didn't falter, "Drayden's probably got a busted rib or two, not to mention the messed up. Several bruises at the least. Sascha and Entei are still out of it. Three versus two and three handicaps – Those aren't exactly odds in our favor, Finn."

"Any better ideas then you pessimistic asshole?!" Finn shouted, "We'd never win a fight with that attitude!"

"I'm not being pessimistic, I'm being _realistic_!" Zeno replied just as loudly, "We've faced bad odds, but at least we knew something about the enemy! We don't know a damn thing about these three!"

"Sure we do!" Finn replied, "One of them uses fire, one of them is insanely strong and the other… Uh... Uses a uhm… A whip? Was it whip, Sascha?" He turned to address the brunette. There was a small sound, almost like a whimper and the covers shifted. Drayden shot the Archer Mage a glare and Finn just shrugged, "Had to be said. I needed to know."

"Tact… Use tact," Drayden replied a bit forcefully. Finn just scoffed.

"I doubt it's in his vocabulary, Dray," Zeno said.

"Piss off, Dog Boy!" Finn barked, fixing a glare on the purple haired boy, "I made my freakin' point already! We have all the information that we need! We can fight back! Look, I'll snipe them from a distance, you use that Cosmic Magic of yours an -"

"I'm not taking that risk! You're _not _the leader here! If you were, then I believe that one or two of us would be dead by now!" Zeno replied, getting up and standing his ground against the Archer Mage, "Drayden _is _injured. Whoever it was that punched him – Patch, or whatever the hell is name was, was that strong. Drayden is no pushover, so that does say something. Sascha and Entei are too out of it to fight, like I said. You and I aren't enough here! That's not enough to go out there with guns blazing!"

"Aaah… Fuck This! I'm done arguing!" Finn shouted, "If you're too much of a coward to fight without your dog by your side, that's fine! Go hide in a broom closet or somethin'! Hell, take Dray and Sascha with you while you're at it! Ugh – They'd just be in my way too! I'll take all three of'em on if I have too! They decided to pick a fight with us - With Crowned Heir; I'm not lettin' those bastards think they can just get away with that shit!" He was huffing and puffing by the time he was done, red in the face and chest heaving.

"This isn't about Crowned Heir," Zeno said, narrowing his eyes, "This is about your damn pride and how they got the drop on such a _great _and _powerful _Hunter! I'll be damned if I let you get either of them, any of us for that matter, killed! If you want to go on a suicide mission, go ahead then! Just don't bring it back here and get us involved!"

"Fuckin' cowards, the lot of ya…" Finn replied lowly. He raised his middle finger as he turned on his heels and walked out of their shared room, slamming the door shut behind him. Sascha shifted under her covers again, and Drayden hesitantly placed a hand on her side in a comforting manner.

Entei whimpered and lightly tugged at the hem of Zeno's shorts leg. The boy sat down and Entei laid his head in his lap.

"Damn fool…" Zeno murmured, petting the wolf's head.

"What are we going to do?" Drayden asked, "You're not wrong… About us."

Zeno shrugged, "When I think of something, I'll tell you…" This was bad. Drayden was injured. Sascha and Entei were both out of it. He could fight well enough, but he didn't like his odds against three fairly strong opponents like those three, not without the proper backup, which he did not have. Super strong, black fire, and there was a whip user in the mix, and none of them knew whether she possessed magic or not.

He only knew of one of the magics at their disposal, but he no idea of how it was used or its power in that man's hands.

Zeno sighed, "Shit…"

As angry as he was at the guy at the moment, Zeno hoped that Finn would stay out of trouble. He didn't want to have to bring back a coffin.

* * *

"Kukuku, they're nervous wrecks! Marvelous…" A velvety, malicious chuckle passed the woman's lips while she and her two comrades watched the 'fireworks'. Their five victims were busy bickering amongst themselves, unaware that they were watching it all happen.

"We could attack those little shits at the hotel now," A man commented, his grin and lit cigarette illuminated by the light given off from the Spying Glass Lacrima, "Or maybe that cocky shit who went off on his own? Think the boss would be angry about that, Lair? _One _body wouldn't hurt, right?"

"… Unfortunately, you're wrong. It _would _hurt. Hurt _us_, in fact - Very badly so. He told us not too kill, I don't know about you, Cain, but I'd very much like to stay my voluptuous three-dimensional shape… Not be crushed flat against the earth," The woman replied, becoming more hesitant as she spoke.

"Good point," Cain replied, dropping his cigarette and stomping it out, "We've done our job. Boss said that the others were in town. If the others are in town, we don't have to stick around." Without a word the three of them turned their backs on the town and went on their way.

* * *

**Ehehe… Hot springs and bathhouses… There's no getting around at least one. **

**The slightest thing can really screw with a team's chemistry. Look back on the Mantimera fight, and then look at this… Yeah, thing's soured fairly quickly for our team.**

**Cain, Patch and Lair are characters of my creation. Thought I should add that.**

**A pretty straight-forward chapter I'd say. Things happened, and got resolved… Though not in the greatest of ways. Finn's on his own here, and that leaves the Team down a fighter good-to-go, but… It doesn't look like they'll have much trouble does it?**

**We'll see what happens.**


	10. Greedy Ghoul

…**Hi **

**So, my name is Barry and I am lazy (Greeted by all who suffer from the same affliction.) I… I have neglected this one story of mine. It was super-duper awesome and doing just as awesomely. Then… I got lazy and side-tracked…**

**Yeah, those are my only excuses. This however was another thing I thought of -"Hey, I've been away from this for a LONG time, so let's give something to come back to."**

**I hope I'm forgiven, and here is the Greedy Ghoul team.**

**The Greedy Ghoul Team…**

**Rindi Kastrel **- **Cloudgrimm**

**Graham Koles - IdentityCrisis.03  
**

**Wesker Bonz - Me**

**Rydell Tetarus - Me**

* * *

"I have no idea how you're still smiling," Estoc sighed. He had just finished explaining to Gilver the magics of the Greedy Ghoul team – He had told the man the body count they had managed to rack up over the past few jobs they had taken, deaths marked as 'accidental' and 'necessary' in the records. Givler already knew why, there was no need for him to explain it…

Yet, the orange haired man was still smiling – Seemingly unfazed by the news.

"I told you – God Slayers, Dragon Slayers… Their entire guild could be made up of them and Crowned Heir would still emerge on top – Victorious!" He raised his mug of beer in cheer and then threw his head back, draining the contents of the mug in seconds.

"You haven't changed in the slightest…" Estoc murmured, a smirk on his face. A sudden ringing drew his and Gilver's attention to the orange haired man's pocket. He withdrew a Contact Card, one with an animated picture of a young man and a dog.

Charging a bit of magic in to it, he then spoke, "Yeah?" Gilver asked.

"_We were attacked," _It was Zeno, _"We're fine, mostly…" _

"Define mostly…" Gilver replied.

"_Drayden's has some injuries to his ribs and Sasha… Isn't really Sasha right now. She's out of it. Whoever attacked her gave a real scare…" _

Estoc watched Gilver's expression. There was none…

"Are you all still able to compete? What about Finn?" It was Zeno who didn't reply this time, "Speak up, kid. If you're mumbling I can't -"

"_We're fine," _Zeno said. A slight edge to his tone which Estoc caught. Apparently that wasn't the reaction kid wanted, _"Finn's fine. He's fine – He's pissed, but he's fine. We… Yeah, we can compete." _

"Good! Good!" Gilver replied, "Do you know anything about who attacked you? Names? Guild symbol?"

"_The mens' names were Patch and… Cain, I think. There was a female too, Lair…" _Zeno paused for a moment and the two of them could vaguely hear voices in the background, _"Yeah, yeah it was Lair. Their guild symbol was a demon head with a jewel symbol hovering over its head." _

Gilver nodded and he looked to Estoc, who nodded back, though he could see it on the man's face that something was amiss, "Zeno. Stay sharp out there. Don't die. I've got to go…" He cut contact with his team without another word, "What's on your mind?" He asked Estoc.

"Gil, there must be some mistake," Estoc stated, setting his glass down, "Lair, Patch, Cain… Yes, they're members of Greedy Ghoul, but they're not the registered team. None of them are even members of it."

Gilver blinked, "… What?"

* * *

"They're late…" A man murmured, looking at a holographic projection of the current time. It receded in to the Lacrima watch he wore and he sighed heavily, "I should call it… Frederick said that they weren't based that far away – Tch, bullshit. It's been a couple of days since he sent out those letters."

Grunting, he pushed himself up to stand on his feet and he brought out a whistle, "Barkon!" He whistled, "Barkon!" He jumped down to the edge of the arena he looked down at the large, black tortoise shell covered with rather long, slender silver spikes. He blew in to the whistle and the shell shifted a brief second. A tortoise with rough, grey skin poked its head, legs and short, spiked tail out of the holes in its shell.

"Greedy Ghoul – Absent..." He murmured. He crouched down, planning to jump on to the back of his beast.

"Oi! Is this where the stupid exams are?" A voice yelled to him. The man grunted. He raised his head and narrowed his eyes, peering in to the darkness of the tunnel at the other end of the arena. There was one lone shadow emerging – It was a girl. Brunette hair, reddish-brown eyes, and quite the smug look on her face.

He said nothing – Instead he watched Barkon's head emerge from his shell and the turtle beast huffed out steam from its nostrils. He only did that when he sensed something was wrong…

"It is!" He called to her. He waited until she was closer to keep speaking, "Where is the rest of your team? You do realize that a four person team is required this year, right?"

She stood there with her hip out to one side and hand on that hip. She huffed when she slipped her hair so that it was behind her shoulder, "Yeah, yeah, I know. They're not going to come, so can we got on with this?"

He shook his head, "Sorry. The entire team has to be present."

Her head whipped around and she was glaring daggers, "Well they're not going to come, jackass! So like I said – Let's get this over with!" And again, he shook his head.

"I already told you -"

"I don't care!" Rindi snapped, stomping her foot out of frustration, "All I have to do is kill that ugly thing! I don't need the others here!"

"You're not supposed to kill it, Miss… Which member are you exactly?" He asked suddenly, taking out a piece of paper.

"Rindi Kastrel!" She replied, "

He rolled his eyes, "Fine!" He grabbed the whistle that was hanging around his neck and he blew in to it, "Barkon!" He barked. The turtle beast huffed more steam from its nostrils, "He's ready for a fight, missy! Don't cry when you lose!"

"Hmph," Rindi huffed, a smirk pulling at her lips. She withdrew a single key from her person – A lavender colored key with a blue flame at the center of the larger portion she was meant to hold, "Open! The Planetary Gate of Pluto!" As she chanted, streams of blue fire burst from the tip of the key and the flames arced to the ground and started to slither in clockwise motion around her, "Arise, Hades!" She exclaimed and the flames burst upward in to a massive pillar.

The overseer brought his arms up to shield his eyes from the light and his face from the scorching heat, _'Did she say Hades? The King of Hell? No way! There's no Celestial Keys capable of summoning something like that! This is insane! And what's with this fire?!' _

He could see through the small gap he had left between his arms and he could see the ground slowly turning black around the pillar of fire – It was intense heat!

A shadow rose from the base of the pillar – He assumed it to be Rindi, but the shadow grew more and more until it was quite large. A single red light pierced through the spiraling wall of blue fire and a chill traveled up his spine despite the intense heat coming off of the flames. The spiraling tower of flames thinned and its rotation grew wilder.

The bottom split open to reveal Rindi, still posed with her hand on her hip and a confident smirk on her face.

The tower of flames shrunk and the blue flames started to solidify around her. From ends around Rindi, the flames receded upward to reveal black cloth underneath. A stream of fire extended out of either side, taking on the shape of hands, and from them long cylindrical flames grew. As the fire tore away from them, it revealed long, steel gun barrels.

"What the hell?" The Beast Tamer murmured, looking upon the monstrosity forming before his very eyes stricken with horror. He was rooted to the ground. He was seeing it happen right in front of him, but it was almost too much for him to handle…

A long black cloak formed. Ragged and torn at the ends of it and its sleeves. It was decorated with rusted buckles, and grey stitch work. Two steel chains were attached to both the arms and the coat like they were bandoleers, attached to the butts of the two revolvers that had taken shape with it. Unlike its wielder, the guns were shiny, almost new, decorated with flames and skull designs etched in to the steel. Bandages emerged from within the coat and wrapped around the flames that made up the head and hands of the body.

"**Mmm… Aaaah…" **The hands formed and took hold of the guns. The head formed, completely mummified save for a single opening that left a bloodshot eye with a red dot in the center for the man and his beast to see.

All was quiet now…

"**You summoned me to this false world, Human?" **The monstrous being growled, turning to look down upon her. She just nodded. He turned back to look down on the Beast Tamer and the tortoise, **"I assume it has something to do with this abomination?"**

Rindi huffed. She crossed her arms and replied, "You're supposed to fight it, dumbass," She ignored the fiery glare Hades set on her with his single eye, "Keep complaining and we'll be here all day! I've got places to be so kill that ugly thing and let's get out of here!"

"**Hmph…" **Hades turned his attention to the beast that was to be his opponent. The turtle opened its mouth wide and roared – The sound wave raced across the gap between them and spread spider-web cracks across the space between them in its wake. Hades' and Rindi were unfazed by its attempt at intimidation, **"Be grateful, you hideous monster. I'm doing you a great service."**

Barkon lowered its head and dug its clawed pads in to the ground. Hades slowly raised one of his long revolvers and pulled back on the hammer. Blue flames ignited at the end of gun barrel and slowly grew in size, **"Sed in lacus ut Inferno!" **

* * *

"It's about time you got back, Rindi," She was greeted by the one voice she didn't want to hear. Stopping on a clear side of their campfire she glared down at her blond teammate while he looked her with an amused smirk on his face, "What? Did you see a bug in your way and stop to give it a damn lecture – Or did you just fainted! Hehe!"

"Shut up!" Rindi snapped, "Shut your damn mouth, Rydell! For you information, I was winning that stupid entrance exam like you guys made me do! And that's another thing! Making me do all of the work while you three assholes just sit around and do _nothing! _Ugh! You're lucky that we need four people and that I can't stand any of the others! Otherwise I'd have Hades send you straight to Hell! Or maybe I could have Ares spear you through up through your balls! And another thing! I am _not _afraid of any bug! –"

"And there she goes…" Rydell murmured, the unfortunate victim of another of Rindi's rants. He rolled his eyes, and looked to one of his companions for some kind of help, but the only one who was facing them was just staring at them blankly like he did with everything else.

The one of the four that had their back to the group was simply leaning against a tree. The soft, blue light emanating from the card in his hand illuminated the smirk on his face. The cover of the card was yellow in color with their guild mark set on it in black.

A voice came through…

"_Your guild mates have done their job. Now, it's time you four got a look at your competition – No killing them. You hear? Violence and blood beget violence and blood and I don't want to have to replace one of you. It would be too much trouble at this time, hehehe."_

"Yeah, understood… Are you sure we can't kill them?" He asked.

Another chuckle came through before he spoke, _"Where' s the fun in that? Give them a scare! Intimidate? Maybe injure, but no killing. I want you all to have some fun in the games! And I want to enjoy them! We can't go around killing off __everyone__... Some! But not all! I'll be happily awaiting your return." _

Without another word, without waiting for a reply, contact between them was cut.

He turned to address the group – Rindi was still in Rydell's face, looking down on him while he sat down, looming over him. Rydell was just taking the verbal abuse with a smile on his face – The blond was never fazed by anything. He glanced down at Wesker, who was crouched down as he always did when they stopped, and he was just watching the pair of them.

"We're going in to town," He stated loudly, getting their attention. A smirk crossed his face and he saw the looks in their eyes – They knew what it meant, "The Master wants us to get to know our competition just a little better. No killing…" He lamented almost sadly, but his smirk only stretched further, "Buuut, we can still have a bit of fun."

"Perfect! My legs were gettin' stiff anyway!" Rydell exclaimed, hoping up and brushing off Rindi.

"Rydell, I want you to make sure Wesker stays on his leash."

"Yeah, yeah…" The blond stopped next to their crouching teammate just as he stood up. He shoved his hands in to his pockets and lowered his head so the hood of his black jacket completely shadowed his face.

"Can we go now?" Rindi huffed.

"We can and we shall," The Leader turned his back on them and motioned for them to follow, "Let's pay Team Crowned Heir a visit."

"Nice light show by the way, Rindi," Rydell stated, "Can you give us the gory details? Hades leave anything behind?" The blond asked her, getting closer and closer. Rindi shoved him away, and a smirk crossed her face.

* * *

"By the One Magic…" Frederick stared in awe of the destruction before him. He had raced there, feeling a disturbance like none other. In the back of his mind, it was an intense heat that radiated ferocity – Something truly dangerous had entered one of his arenas.

Always, every waking moment, and even during the hours which he slept, he was aware of his illusions. Their strength, their surrealism – Every nook and cranny of what he created he knew what was there, if something was amiss or not. Out of the blue, he felt one disappear. It was gone in an instant, though it was one of his most recent. He was no pushover as a Mage – His illusions were top-notch! It would take a Mage of great intellect with skills of very high-caliber to dismantle one of his illusions!

And even then, he would feel it breaking down…

This one just vanished – A violent pull on his magic, on his soul, and then nothing…

He arrived on the sight only to find a large, smoldering spot of blackened earth – The heat radiating from it was still very hot!

This was exactly where one of his arenas had stood, but there was nothing left. He slowly approached the black spot and through the haze of the heat he could see something lying in the center of the smoldering spot. He strode across the blackened land, kicking up soot and ash in his wake.

"Jeremiah…" He murmured, stopping beside the prone body. Covered in severe burns, he was emitting smoke. Frederick produced a handkerchief from his sleeve and used to cover his nose, to give himself some kind of protection from the wretched, vile smell of burning flesh that had previously wafted in to it. He crouched beside his friend and watched him convulse, his body give the slightest of twitches. He could see rising and falling of his chest. His eyelids had been fused to his skin, undoubtedly by the intense heat he had had to suffer through. It was difficult to tell whether not he was alive, or if he was witnessing the death throes.

Jeremiah inhaled and wheezed.

"Greedy Ghoul… Greedy… Ghoul… Did this!" Jeremiah said, slowly, shakily raising one of his hands.

"Did they now?" Frederick replied, watching him. The Beast Tamer let out choked grunts. His head slowly turned and blood over the corner of his mouth and slowly pooled in front of him. His breath hitched and his arm went limp. His hand hit the ground. Frederick reached down, a second handkerchief in hand, and he lifted Jeremiah's hand. He let it go and it fell without any resistance.

"Oh my…" He whispered. He stood up, and in respect for the dead, he took his top hat from his head and placed it against his chest. A smile slowly crept across his face, from ear to ear it stretched, "Glorious indeed! Oooh!~ That wonderful feeling, that tingling in my spine! Hahah!" He jumped up and struck his heels together in joy. He was beaming!

"These Grand Treasure Games will be the best one in years! I know it! They'll sing! Tell stories! None shall forget them!" He cheered, spinning around with his arms out wide, "Jeremiah! Dear friend! You will be missed, but the show must go on!"

With a snap of his fingers the body of the Beast Tamer was confined within an elegant wooden coffin. It rose in to the air and floated toward him. With another snap of his fingers, they were gone.

* * *

"Tch… Buncha cowards!" Finn growled, hands shoved in his pockets while he stamped down the empty street, "Bet we coulda found all of those ambushing bastards if they had just listened to me! Uggh!" He ranted and raved to himself. He had never seen Entei so down, and Drayden was worse for wear. The worst of it was Sascha – She was always so happy. She hardly ever sat still when they and their respective teams were stuck at the guild hall, waiting for jobs to arrive. To see her so down…

He growled, "Ahh… Bet I could find'em! That shit brand of cigarettes! And I'll send'em all to Hell! I…" He stopped mid-sentence and he straightened up.

He sniffed at the air and glanced around the surrounding area in front of him, "… Why does it smell like death?" He murmured. Looking over his left shoulder, he stared up at the roof a nearby building, "Why do _you _smell like death?" A crouched human shape shifted and they stood up at full height. They were completely shrouded in darkness – He couldn't make a single feature at this distance.

"Sorry…" They replied, and from the voice they sounded male, "Haven't had a chance to shower as of late. Just got in to town."

"…You reek, you should really get on that," Finn stated, wrinkling his nose. _'That smell… It's not fresh. It's like a cemetery… Dirt and bones, but it's not overpowering like he's been directly in one. Huh?' _

"Hmhmhm… I'll do just that. Though, before I do that, I found myself curious about our competition. Crowned Heir…" Finn's eyes widened considerably and he turned to fully face the shadowed figure. The man let out an airy chuckle and continued to talk, "I wanted to see what we were dealing with. I'm not impressed in the slightest. From what I've heard… You're all a mess right now. I can't see you being too impressive in perfect harmony either, hehehe," Instead of an airy chuckle, a louder, condescending cackle reached Finn's ears.

"…You're from Greedy Ghoul!" Finn growled. He snapped in that moment – Now he could get revenge on someone at the very least. He raised his arm with his fingers in the right position – In that instance he realized that he had forgotten his bow again, but right now, he didn't care. "Bullet Magic!" He exclaimed, firing a slender, light purple beam at his target.

They simply tilted their head to the side. Finn steadied his hand for another shot, but his target leaped from the roof and landed on his feet a short distance from him. He was brought to light and Finn could see him clearly – He was lanky, pale, his eyes were sharp and the smirk on his face didn't

"You're one of those Crowned Heir shits. The ones that think they're entitled to all of the treasure this shithole of a world has to offer…" He said, tilting his head slightly to his right, "Am I right?"

"Yeah, mostly…" Finn replied, "Who the hell are you?"

"Dealing with a punk like you shouldn't be too much of an issue," He stated. Finn dropped in to a ready stance. Those were fighting words, "And if your team is as useless, then we've got this whole idiotic tournament in the bag."

Finn sneered and he spat on the ground, "Cocky jackass… Let's see if you're still confident when I'm done beating you in to the ground!" He took a fighting stance while his opponent remained relaxed, merely shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

"Name's Graham by the way, since you asked so very _nicely_… Kukuku," Finn charged at him without warning and was quick to close the distance between them. He threw a single punch and Graham simply swayed to the side, and did the same with the next, and the next. Graham ducked down to avoid a high, sweeping kick and then lunged forwar.d He slammed his palm in to Finn's stomach and the Archer Mage was sent sliding back across the ground. He fell back, but skillfully landed on his feet following a back-flip.

"Palm Magic… Heh," A smirk crossed Finn's face, "Now I know what you've got up your sleeve!" He took his stance to use his Bullet Magic once again.

Graham slowly raised his hand to his chest, "Not quiet, you stupid monkey," He said and then tapped two fingers against his chest over his heart, "Disruption," He said, tapping his twice yet again, faster now.

"Urgh!" Finn lurched forward. His right hand shot to his chest, clutching a handful of cloth over his heart. Graham tapped his chest yet again and Finn coughed. He sucked in air and Graham tapped his chest only once – Finn's breath hitched in his throat and rolled over on to his back. Graham tapped his chest once more and Finn inhaled as though his life depended on it.

'_Shit! He… He didn't even touch me… He wasn't even close to me!' _Finn thought as he fell to his knees. He drew quick breaths and placed his hands over his heart. He fell forward and put his forehead to the ground, "W – What? What did you _DO!?_" Finn hissed through the immense pain.

"We're synced now, my friend. I could kill you – But I'm not allowed to right now."

Finn slowly raised his head just as Graham stopped talking only to see his opponent had his back to him with his shirt raised, "What the…" His eyes widened and he let out a strangled cry.

"Burn the image in to your mind," The man said while Finn looked at the mark on his back – A demon head with the symbol for jewels hovering above it, "You'll be seeing this symbol in your best dreams, your worst nightmares, and in the winner's circle when the games are over with. If any of us are feeling extra wicked, we might just carve it in the tombstones of you and you pathetic guild mates."

He lowered his shirt without another word and he walked off.

Finn reached for him and his hand slowly curled in to the position for using his Bullet Magic. He had his shot – His vision was blurring, black was creeping in from the outer edges. He gritted his teeth and he growled

"Next time… Next time you're fuckin' dead…" Finn murmured. His head hit the ground with a dull thud.

* * *

Rydell, Rindi and Wesker situated themselves on a building adjacent the inn their enemy was staying in. From their position they could see in to their room, and things were relatively calm. They could see one kid and a wolf on one side of the room and another sitting next to a futon and a lump under a quilt.

"Too easy…" Rydell stated. He reared his arm back and thrust his arm forward. A moment later the glass of their windows shattered and they watched as a couple of them scrambled. He chuckled and clapped, "Quick reflexes! Hehe… Oh man, these fuckin' idiots. Wesker, do you thing!"

He set his sights on their crouching companion. A guttural growl was the only reply he received and Wesker opened his mouth, from which a purple mist poured out.

"What the hell is that?"

"There's someone up there!"

Rydell and Rindi looked down toward the inn and two people were looking back up at them, "I guess we've been spotted," Rydell stated with a smirk.

"Just hurry up and kill them," Rindi remarked with an annoyed edge to her tone.

Wesker growled again, "Dead… Dragon's Roar…"

* * *

"Then why fuck did they attack them, eh?" Gilver demanded, jumping up from his seat. He rounded on Estoc and shouldered his sheathed weapon. An air of animosity surrounded him – His sharp teeth were bared and his bright green eyes were narrowed in a glare.

Estoc's expression became neutral. He leaned back against the bar counter and he reached up to loosen his tie around his neck, "I suggest you calm down, Gilver. I've been forthcoming with information – I don't think you want all of your precious items damaged, do you? Or worse yet, reported to the Magic Council?" A smirk tugged at the man's lips and Gilver's hand shot out to grab him by the collar of his shirt.

"Son of a –" Gilver stopped short and just growled in the man's face.

Estoc slowly removed Gilver's hand when his grip slackened, "Don't shoot the messenger, all right? I've told you what I know. Those three who attacked your team were just regular members."

"And they're not getting punished or anything? No set back in the competition?" Gilver asked, reining in his frustration and anger.

Estoc shook his head in the negative and Gilver cursed loudly, smashing one of his tables with a downward swing of his weapon, "C'mon. You can't be surprised. The overseers and the stuffed shirts who're involved are pretty lenient with the rules. Always have been – They're not going to give any Guild team a handicap, or even a slap on the wrist, for some outside interference. They're keeping the games interesting! Even before they begin."

"I'd cut'em all apart if I had the chance! Who needs'em?" Gilver spat, clutching his sheathed sword until his knuckles whitened.

Estoc watched him with a smirk on his face, "Didn't think you cared about some brats so much. From the stories Damon has shared, you sounded like the kind of guy who'd sell them for a few thousand jewels."

Gilver scoffed, "Hmph…" He turned his back on his old friend, "I'm pissed because it hurts our chances in the competition. Now that we're back in it, I'll accept _nothing _less that victory!"

Estoc silently nodded his head. That was Gilver he knew – Self-centered, focused on his own ambitions. He downed the last of his shot of booze and hopped up from his seat, not even the slightest of hitches in his step after so much drinking. He straightened out his clothes and proceeded forward, clapping Gilver on the back on his way past him, "Best of you luck to you, my old friend. I'll tell Doman you said hi… or should I tell him that he owes you money?" He chuckled at his own joke.

"Estoc," Gilver called to him with turning back. The man hummed as he peered over his shoulders, "Are you… scared of this team?"

"And what makes you ask me such a question?" Estoc replied with a question of his own.

"The way you talked… Sounded scared," Gilver turned his head enough for the man to see the smirk on his face, "If you were. I'd be glad to provide you with more than adequate protection. For a fee of course – Maybe there's a small 'old friends' discount in it for you…"

"Hmhmhm…" Estoc chuckled. Gilver would never change. He turned his back on his old friend and waved over his shoulder, "Go talk to your imaginary friends." He disappeared without another word.

Gilver stood in place for a moment. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other and craned his neck to the side, "No matter how hungry you are, I doubt you could ever come close to scratching him… Go back to sleep. I've got the other two to deal with; I don't need you growling…"

Gilver heaved out a heavy sigh – He needed another drink.

* * *

**For those who thought Lair, Patch and Cain were members of the team… Nope! Bamboozled you! Sort of… I think… Hmm?**

**Also, Pluto… Not a planet , I know. But it was connected to Hades and I needed Hades… And what he said was 'Welcome to Hell' in Latin!**

**A thanks to Qyresh for the 'Dead Dragon Slayer' idea. She was originally going to send one in, but never got back to me. If you read this – Thanks!**

**I really hope that you guys enjoyed the chapter. Hopefully I'll be back with another soon! Ciao!**


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